How officer is addressed when receiving time in prison (4)
I believe the answer is:
stir
'prison' is the definition.
(informal term for prison)
'how officer is addressed when receiving time' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'time' could be 't' (abbreviation) and 't' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'sir' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for stir that I've seen before include "Disturb" , "What keeps those inside" , "Whisk or mix" , "prompt" , "Wake up - prison" .)