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Royal command following, popular with men fit for service (2,7,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

in working order

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'fit for service' is the definition.

'royal command following popular with men' is the wordplay.
'royal' becomes 'king' (I've seen this before).
'command' becomes 'order' (order is a kind of command).
'following' says to put letters next to each other.
'popular with' becomes 'inw' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'men' becomes 'or' (military abbreviation for Other Ranks).
'king'+'order'='kingorder'
'inw'+'or'='inwor'
'kingorder' after 'inwor' is 'IN WORKING ORDER'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for in working order that I've seen before include "monk who doesn't simply pray?" , "Functioning properly" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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