Crossword Genius

Stop commuting north and south in side street (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

desist

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'stop' is the definition.
(desist means to stop)

'commuting north and south in side street' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'south' could be 's' (abbreviation) and 's' is located in the answer.
an anagram of 'side' is 'deis' which is present in the left over letters.
A single letter 't' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for desist that I've seen before include "Stop, whoa, give over" , "Stop, don't continue" , "Stop (doing something)" , "Stop, abstain" , "'Give over, refrain (6)'" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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