Crossword Genius

Join admitting one is mercenary? (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

soldier

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'mercenary?' is the definition.
(I know that Soldier has the occupation mercenary)

'join admitting one' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'one' could be 'i' (Roman numeral) and 'i' is present in the answer.
'join' could be 'solder' (soldering is a kind of joining) and 'solder' is located in the leftover letters.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'is' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for soldier that I've seen before include "One enlisted" , "Person serving in army" , "serviceman" , "Member of the military" , "Military man" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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