Religious probationer without blemish? (6)

I believe the answer is:

novice

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'religious probationer' is the definition.
'novice' can be an answer for 'probationer' (thesaurus). I am not sure about the 'religious' bit.

'without blemish?' is the wordplay.
'without' becomes 'no'.
'blemish?' becomes 'vice' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'no'+'vice'='NOVICE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for novice that I've seen before include "New member (of religious order)" , "Probationary monk/nun" , "Noob" , "Rod, tee up the ship-worm" , "Salvage" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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