Crossword Genius

Society to encourage operator (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

surgeon

'operator' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'society to encourage' is the wordplay.
'society' becomes 's' (common abbreviation in names of organisations).
'to encourage' becomes 'urgeon' (urging on is a kind of encouraging).
's'+'urgeon'='SURGEON'

(Other definitions for surgeon that I've seen before include "Medical practitioner - go nurse (anag)" , "one used to working in the theatre" , "Performer of operations" , "9 practitioner (through keyhole?)" , "Theatre operator" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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