Crossword Genius

Hire a pal to come round and be motherly (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

parental

'be motherly' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'hire a pal to come round' is the wordplay.
'hire' becomes 'rent' (synonyms).
'to come round' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'rent'+'a'='renta'
'renta' placed into 'pal' is 'PARENTAL'.

'and' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for parental that I've seen before include "of father, perhaps" , "of some older relatives" , "Relating to mother and father" , "like mum and dad" , "of old man and woman" .)

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