Crossword Genius

Pledge short order within time (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

dedicate

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

'pledge' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'short order within time' is the wordplay.
'short order' becomes 'edic' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'within' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'time' becomes 'date' (date is a kind of time).
'edic' going into 'date' is 'DEDICATE'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for dedicate that I've seen before include "Devote, address, to" , "Address (eg, a book to a person)" , "Devote to a sacred person or use" , "Commit" , "Devote (to), pledge (to)" .)

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