Crossword Genius

Star I'm backing to take off? (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

minus

'off?' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'star i'm backing' is the wordplay.
'star' becomes 'sun' (the Sun is a star).
'backing' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'sun'+'im'='sunim'
'sunim' back-to-front is 'MINUS'.

'to take' is the link.

(Other definitions for minus that I've seen before include "Deprived of" , "Negative sign - negative thing" , "Lacking; negative" , "Less, without" , "'Take away' sign" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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