Crossword Genius

Popular, extravagant youth (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

infancy

'youth' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'popular extravagant' is the wordplay.
'popular' becomes 'in' (something that's 'in' is fashionable).
'extravagant' becomes 'fancy' (fancy can mean extravagant).
'in'+'fancy'='INFANCY'

(Other definitions for infancy that I've seen before include "Early stages of" , "State of early childhood" , "First stage of life" , "youth" , "Babyhood" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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