High-ranking ecclesiastic not yet dead, can one infer? (7)
I believe the answer is:
prelate
'high-ranking ecclesiastic' is the definition.
'prelate' can be an answer for 'ecclesiastic'. I'm not sure about the 'high-ranking' bit.
'not yet dead can one infer?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'dead' could be 'late' ('late' can be similar in meaning to 'dead') and 'late' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'pre' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for prelate that I've seen before include "Senior churchman" , "e.g. Bishop" , "Church high-ranker" , "Pleater (anag.)" , "Bishop perhaps" .)