Porter perhaps cross, meeting a smart home help (5)

I believe the answer is:

alexa

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'smart home help' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'porter perhaps cross meeting a' is the wordplay.
'porter perhaps' becomes 'ale' (porter is a kind of ale).
'cross' becomes 'x' (an X is a cross).
'meeting' says to put letters next to each other.
'ale'+'x'+'a'='ALEXA'

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I've seen this clue in The Times.

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