Crossword Genius

Outstanding police bird to proceed secretly, not disheartened (3-7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

pre-eminent

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'disheartened' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?

'outstanding police bird to proceed secretly not' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'outstanding' could be 'eminent' (eminent can mean esteemed or outstanding) and 'eminent' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'pre' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for pre-eminent that I've seen is " Surpassing all others".)

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