Crossword Genius

Surround bees flying around island, say (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

besiege

'surround' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'bees flying around island say' is the wordplay.
'flying' indicates an anagram (letters fly around into new positions).
'around' is an insertion indicator.
'island' becomes 'i' (geographical abbreviation).
'say' becomes 'eg' (both can mean 'for example').
'bees' with letters rearranged gives 'bese'.
'i'+'eg'='ieg'
'bese' placed around 'ieg' is 'BESIEGE'.

(Other definitions for besiege that I've seen before include "Invest" , "Crowd round oppressively" , "Surround (a place) with hostile intent" , "Surround (town etc) with armed forces" , "Aggressively surround" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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