Crossword Genius

Permit curbing pub singer? (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

linnet

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

'singer?' is the definition.
(I know that linnet is a type of singer)

'permit curbing pub' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'pub' could be 'inn' (an inn is a type of pub) and 'inn' is located in the answer.
'permit' could be 'let' (synonyms) and 'let' is present in the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for linnet that I've seen before include "Songster" , "Bird in the finch family" , "Singer" , "Finch so named because it feeds on flax" , "A singing bird as from Yeats's Innisfree" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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