Crossword Genius

Office secretaries extremely coy (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

papacy

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'office' is the definition.
(office or responsibilities of the pope)

'secretaries extremely coy' is the wordplay.
'secretaries' becomes 'papa' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'extremely' means to remove the middle letters (only the extremes of the word are used).
'coy' with its centre taken out is 'cy'.
'papa'+'cy'='PAPACY'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for papacy that I've seen before include "Vatican leader's office" , "Pontificate" , "form of Fatherhood?" , "Job in Rome" , "Church office" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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