New area for sufferers, drinking anaesthetic down (10)

I believe the answer is:

netherward

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'anaesthetic down' is the definition.
The definition suggests an adjective which matches the answer.

'new area for sufferers drinking' is the wordplay.
'new' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation eg NT for New Testament).
'area' becomes 'ward'.
'for' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (I've seen this in other clues).
'sufferers drinking' becomes 'ether' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'ward' after 'ether' is 'etherward'.
'n'+'etherward'='NETHERWARD'

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I've seen this clue in The Times.

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