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Perform in river? Lovely (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

execute

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'perform' is the definition.
(I know that perform can be written as execute)

'river? lovely' is the wordplay.
'river?' becomes 'exe' (River Exe).
'lovely' becomes 'cute' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'exe'+'cute'='EXECUTE'

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for execute that I've seen before include "Carry out; behead" , "Put (plan) into effect; kill (a condemned person)" , "Inflict capital punishment upon" , "ice" , "Put to death - put into effect" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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