Crossword Genius

Must I request ripe bananas? (12)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

prerequisite

'must' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'i request ripe bananas?' is the wordplay.
'bananas?' indicates anagramming the letters (informal term for mad).
'i'+'request'+'ripe'='irequestripe'
'irequestripe' is an anagram of 'PREREQUISITE'.

(Other definitions for prerequisite that I've seen before include "Early qualification" , "Needed as a prior condition" , "Something required as a prior condition" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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