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Old queen, in good spirits, reaches treasury (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

exchequer

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'treasury' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'old queen in good spirits' is the wordplay.
'old' becomes 'ex'.
'queen in good spirits' becomes 'chequer' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'ex'+'chequer'='EXCHEQUER'

'reaches' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for exchequer that I've seen before include "Purse" , "Department in charge of a nation's finances" , "Government treasury department" , "National treasury" , "Treasury accounting department" .)

I've seen this clue in The Hindu.
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