Crossword Genius

The last left work in top gear without having parental leave to wed (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

eloping

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

'without having parental leave to wed' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'the last left work in top gear' is the wordplay.
'last' says to take the final letters.
'left' says the letters should be written backwards.
'work' becomes 'pol' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'top' says to take the initial letters (in a down clue, the first letter is top).
The final letter of 'the' is 'e'.
The first letter of 'gear' is 'g'.
'pol' in reverse letter order is 'lop'.
'e'+'lop'+'in'+'g'='ELOPING'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for eloping that I've seen is " Running away".)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.