Crossword Genius

Minister, no saint, could be temporary (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

interim

'temporary' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)

'minister no saint could be' is the wordplay.
'no' suggests deleting specific letters.
'saint' becomes 's'.
'could be' indicates an anagram.
'minister' with 's' removed is 'miniter'.
'miniter' anagrammed gives 'INTERIM'.

(Other definitions for interim that I've seen before include "Temporary - provisional" , "acting" , "Caretaker" , "Stopgap" , "An intervening period of time" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sun and The Times.
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