Crossword Genius

Queen behind an old faithful companion, briefly backing high street trader (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

grocer

'high street trader' is the definition.
(grocers may trade on the high street)

'queen behind an old faithful companion briefly backing' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'queen' could be 'er' (abbreviation for Elizabeth Regina) and 'er' is present in the answer.
'old' could be 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English) and 'o' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

(Other definitions for grocer that I've seen before include "Dealer in foodstuffs and household goods" , "Retailer of food and small household goods" , "Food shop" , "One supplying households" , "Chesterton's wicked tradesman" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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