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Happen to swallow pastry holder (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

occupier

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'holder' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?

'happen to swallow pastry' is the wordplay.
'happen' becomes 'occur' (synonyms).
'to swallow' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'pastry' becomes 'pie' (pie is a kind of pastry).
'occur' enclosing 'pie' is 'OCCUPIER'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for occupier that I've seen before include "One in residence" , "Squatter" , "One inhabiting a place" , "Resident" , "Person in position" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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