Crossword Genius

Mostly respect a large naval commander (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

admiral

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

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

'mostly respect a large' is the wordplay.
'mostly' means to remove the last letter.
'respect' becomes 'admire' (admiring is a kind of respecting).
'a large' becomes 'al' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'admire' with its final letter removed is 'admir'.
'admir'+'al'='ADMIRAL'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for admiral that I've seen before include "Commander of the fleet or butterfly" , "Powerful sailor" , "Eg, Nelson" , "Red butterfly in charge of the fleet" , "Naval high-up" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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