Crossword Genius

Soldier with Eastern weapon within reach (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

spearman

'soldier' is the definition.
(I know that spearman is a type of soldier)

'eastern weapon within reach' is the wordplay.
'eastern' becomes 'e'.
'weapon' becomes 'arm' (synonyms).
'within' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'reach' becomes 'span' (I've seen this in another clue).
'e'+'arm'='earm'
'earm' going within 'span' is 'SPEARMAN'.

'with' acts as a link.

(Another definition for spearman that I've seen is " Parmesan (anag) - old soldier".)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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