Crossword Genius

Instruction from dreadful court — a number beheaded (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

directive

'instruction' is the definition.
(I have seen 'Official instruction ' mean 'directive' so perhaps 'instruction' could also mean 'directive')

'dreadful court a number beheaded' is the wordplay.
'dreadful' becomes 'dire' (synonyms).
'court' becomes 'ct' (abbreviation used in road names).
'a number' becomes 'five' (five is a number).
'beheaded' means to remove the first letter (the head of the word is removed).
'five' with its first letter taken off is 'ive'.
'dire'+'ct'+'ive'='DIRECTIVE'

'from' is the link.

(Other definitions for directive that I've seen before include "order" , "Official instruction" , "command" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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