Crossword Genius

Tea service rejected after nanosecond? (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

assam

'tea' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'service rejected after nanosecond?' is the wordplay.
'service' becomes 'mass' (kind of church service).
'rejected' says the letters should be written backwards.
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'nanosecond?' becomes 'a' (2nd letter of 'nan').
'mass' in reverse letter order is 'ssam'.
'ssam' after 'a' is 'ASSAM'.

(Other definitions for assam that I've seen before include "Top quality tea" , "Tea-growing state in north-east India" , "part of India" , "Tea-growing region" , "region out east" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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