Strong second row (5)

I believe the answer is:

stiff

'strong' is the definition.
(I know that strong can be written as stiff)

'second row' is the wordplay.
'second' becomes 's' (common abbreviation).
'row' becomes 'tiff' (tiff is a kind of row).
's'+'tiff'='STIFF'

(Other definitions for stiff that I've seen before include "Inflexible" , "Not giving" , "Rigid, prim" , "Difficult" , "Starched, rigid" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sun, The Telegraph and The Times.

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