Crossword Genius

Highly esteemed lady longing to probe teacher, English (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

doyenne

'highly esteemed lady' is the definition.
(most respected woman in a particular field)

'longing to probe teacher english' is the wordplay.
'longing' becomes 'yen' (yen can mean a desire or longing for something).
'to probe' means one lot of letters goes inside another (probe can mean to poke into).
'teacher' becomes 'don' (don is a kind of teacher).
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'yen' placed inside 'don' is 'doyenn'.
'doyenn'+'e'='DOYENNE'

(Other definitions for doyenne that I've seen before include "most esteemed lady" , "Female expert in a field" , "Woman who is senior member of her profession" , "highly-respected" , "Senior lady in profession" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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