Crossword Genius

Late priest set up in love directly (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

overdue

'late' is the definition.
('overdue' can be similar in meaning to 'late')

'priest set up in love directly' is the wordplay.
'priest' becomes 'rev' (**).
'set up' is a reversal indicator.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'love' becomes 'o' (In tennis, 'love' means 'zero').
'directly' becomes 'due' ('due' can be a synonym of 'directly').
'rev' in reverse letter order is 'ver'.
'o'+'due'='odue'
'ver' placed into 'odue' is 'OVERDUE'.

(Other definitions for overdue that I've seen before include "Late, outstanding like bill" , "Later than the appointed time, as for bill payment" , "In arrears" , "Behindhand" , "Not having arrived at the expected time" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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