Crossword Genius

Professional army officer keeping to correct procedure (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

protocol

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

'professional army officer keeping to' is the wordplay.
'professional' becomes 'pro' ('pro' can be a synonym of 'professional').
'army officer' becomes 'col' (I've seen this in other clues).
'keeping' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'pro'+'col'='procol'
'procol' placed around 'to' is 'PROTOCOL'.

(Other definitions for protocol that I've seen before include "Procedure or system of rules" , "Draft treaty" , "Poor clot involved in kind of status etiquette" , "Approved procedure" , "customs" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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