Crossword Genius

Near about in clemency, but grasping (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

mercenary

'grasping' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'near about in clemency' is the wordplay.
'about' indicates anagramming the letters.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'clemency' becomes 'mercy' (synonyms).
'near' is an anagram of 'enar'.
'enar' placed into 'mercy' is 'MERCENARY'.

'but' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for mercenary that I've seen before include "One who fights for foreign country for pay" , "Bent on making money" , "Paid fighter" , "Soldier for hire" , "Soldier of fortune" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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