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Say ta to Charlie who left an empty trash can last week (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

thank

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'say ta to charlie who left' is the definition.
The definition and answer are not the same part of speech.

'an empty trash can last week' is the wordplay.
'empty' means to remove the middle letters.
'can' indicates an anagram (I've seen 'canned' mean this (canned can mean drunk)).
'last' suggests the final letters.
'trash' with its middle taken out is 'th'.
The final letter of 'week' is 'k'.
'an'+'th'='anth'
'anth' is an anagram of 'than'.
'than'+'k'='THANK'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for thank that I've seen before include "give credit" , "Be grateful to" , "Blame" , "Express gratitude" , "Express appreciation to" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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