Crossword Genius

Spartan character too short to reach medicine bottles (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

phials

'medicine bottles' is the definition.
(glass bottles used in medicine)

'spartan character too short' is the wordplay.
'spartan character' becomes 'phi' (Greek letter - Sparta was part of Greece).
'too' becomes 'also' (synonyms).
'short' means to remove the last letter.
'also' with its last letter taken away is 'als'.
'phi'+'als'='PHIALS'

'to reach' acts as a link.

(Another definition for phials that I've seen is " Bottles".)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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