Crossword Genius

Scramble panda car using energy to cover every area with time to complete previous case (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

precedent

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'previous case' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'scramble panda car using energy to cover every area with time to complete' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'car' could be 't' and 't' is located in the answer.
'energy' could be 'e' (physics symbol as in E=mc2) and 'e' is located in the answer.
'area' could be 'den' (den is a kind of area) and 'den' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for precedent that I've seen before include "Past instance serving as example" , "model" , "Example to follow" , "Herald" , "Earlier parallel event" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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