Crossword Genius

Play about a duke’s spaniel (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

toady

'spaniel' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'play about a duke's' is the wordplay.
'play' becomes 'toy' (synonyms).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'duke' becomes 'd' (abbreviation).
'a'+'d'='ad'
'toy' enclosing 'ad' is 'TOADY'.

(Other definitions for toady that I've seen before include "Person who flatters and behaves obsequiously to another" , "Obsequious type" , "crawler" , "Creep" , "Obsequious person" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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