Crossword Genius

He pretends to work (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

actor

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'he pretends' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.

'work' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'work' could be 'act' (synonyms) and 'act' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'or' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'to' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for actor that I've seen before include "Performer in drama" , "Person performing on stage or screen" , "Films/stage worker" , "Luvvy" , "ham" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.
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