Crossword Genius

Leave me not without love in office (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

department

'office' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'leave me not without love' is the wordplay.
'leave' becomes 'depart' (departing is a kind of leaving**).
'without' suggests deleting specific letters.
'love' becomes 'o' (In tennis, 'love' means 'zero').
'not' with 'o' taken out is 'nt'.
'depart'+'me'+'nt'='DEPARTMENT'

'in' is the link.

(Other definitions for department that I've seen before include "Division of a large organisation" , "group of civil servants" , "not the whole company" , "Division of company" , "Moselle, perhaps" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app