Crossword Genius

Give inspiration to a friend from Belfast region? (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

animate

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'give inspiration to' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'a friend from belfast region?' is the wordplay.
'a' becomes 'an'.
'friend from belfast' becomes 'imat' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'region?' becomes 'E' (E region is an example).
'an'+'imat'+'e'='ANIMATE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for animate that I've seen before include "Inspire" , "Infuse with life" , "Put life into as with cartoon" , "Bring to life, like cartoon" , "Eat main (anag.)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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