Crossword Genius

Skill is a necessity principally for mechanic (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

artisan

'mechanic' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'skill is a necessity principally' is the wordplay.
'skill' becomes 'art' (I've seen this before).
'principally' says to take the initial letters.
The first letter of 'necessity' is 'n'.
'art'+'is'+'a'+'n'='ARTISAN'

'for' is the link.

(Other definitions for artisan that I've seen before include "Journeyman" , "craftsman of his trade" , "Crafty sort" , "crafty person?" , "Handy worker" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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