Crossword Genius

Shoot revolutionary soldiers holding prince (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sprig

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

'revolutionary soldiers holding prince' is the wordplay.
'revolutionary' says the letters should be written backwards.
'soldiers' becomes 'gis' (GI is an informal term for a US soldier).
'holding' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'prince' becomes 'pr'.
'gis' reversed gives 'sig'.
'sig' going around 'pr' is 'SPRIG'.

(Other definitions for sprig that I've seen before include "Small stem with leaves or flowers" , "What may be flowering" , "Spray - youngster" , "A tack; a little shoot" , "Youth" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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