Crossword Genius

Plan route of vehicle around India, given possible entry point (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

navigate

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'plan route' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with motion as well as being verbs in their base form.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'vehicle around india given possible entry point' is the wordplay.
'vehicle' becomes 'van' (type of vehicle).
'around' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'india' becomes 'i' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'given possible entry point' becomes 'gate' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'van' written backwards gives 'nav'.
'nav'+'i'+'gate'='NAVIGATE'

'of' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for navigate that I've seen before include "Guide (a vessel)" , "Direct course of ship or plane" , "Plan route (eg, of ship)" , "Guide ship or aircraft" , "Move around a website" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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