Crossword Genius

Laird confused inside about reformist (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

radical

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'reformist' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'laird confused inside about' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'about' could be 'ca' (abbreviation for circa) and 'ca' is present in the answer.
an anagram of 'laird' is 'radil' which is located in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for radical that I've seen before include "Fundamental - thoroughgoing" , "Subversive" , "One who favours thoroughgoing reform" , "Drastic or thorough as changes may be" , "Extreme, ultra" .)

I've seen this clue in The Mirror.
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