Crossword Genius

Polecat, female, on raised ground in France (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ferret

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'polecat' is the definition.
(ferret is a kind of polecat)

'female on raised ground in france' is the wordplay.
'female' becomes 'f' (abbreviation).
'on raised ground' becomes 'err' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'in france' becomes 'et' (I've seen this in other clues).
'f'+'err'+'et'='FERRET'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for ferret that I've seen before include "Small animal used to drive rabbits from burrows" , "Animal trained to catch rabbits" , "Small carnivore" , "Find (out) by persistent investigation" , "It digs out rabbits" .)

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