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Male, rather old ultimately for a swordsman (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

matador

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'a swordsman' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?

'male rather old ultimately for' is the wordplay.
'male' becomes 'm' (common abbreviation).
'rather' becomes 'atad' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'old' becomes 'o' (abbreviation).
'ultimately' indicates one should take the final letters.
The final letter of 'for' is 'r'.
'm'+'atad'+'o'+'r'='MATADOR'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for matador that I've seen before include "Spanish performer" , "One in the ring" , "he aims to get a bull" , "The one who kills the bull" , "ROM data (anag)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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