Crossword Genius

Spread covering Irish Rover (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

pirate

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

'spread covering irish' is the wordplay.
'spread' becomes 'pate' (pate is a kind of spread).
'covering' indicates putting letters inside.
'irish' becomes 'IR' (abbreviation for Irish).
'pate' going around 'ir' is 'PIRATE'.

(Other definitions for pirate that I've seen before include "Illegal" , "Copy published material illegally" , "Appropriate stuff" , "He sailed under the Jolly Roger" , "Cornishman maybe" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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