Crossword Genius

State lucky to be evacuated altogether (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

utterly

'altogether' is the definition.
('utterly' can be a synonym of 'altogether')

'state lucky to be evacuated' is the wordplay.
'state' becomes 'utter' (I've seen this before**).
'to be evacuated' means to remove the middle letters.
'lucky' with its middle taken out is 'ly'.
'utter'+'ly'='UTTERLY'

(Other definitions for utterly that I've seen before include "Absolutely and completely" , "Completly and without qualification" , "Completely and totally" , "'All is changed, changed . . .' (Yeats)" , "Downright" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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