Crossword Genius

Not a levy on vice, but a grammatical consideration (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

syntax

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'vice but a grammatical consideration' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'not a levy on' is the wordplay.
'not a' becomes 'syn' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'levy' becomes 'tax' (taxing is a kind of levying).
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'syn'+'tax'='SYNTAX'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for syntax that I've seen before include "Linguistic study" , "Verbal order" , "Grammatical construction" , "Grammatical word structure in sentences" , "Sentence structure" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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