Crossword Genius

The man loses every second drink (3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tea

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

'drink' is the definition.
(tea is a drink)

'the man loses every second' is the wordplay.
'man' becomes 'he' (pronoun for a man).
'loses' is a deletion indicator.
'every second' becomes 'ea' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'the' with 'he' taken out is 't'.
't'+'ea'='TEA'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for tea that I've seen before include "Afternoon or evening meal" , "Elevenses" , "tips for the cup?" , "Strangely, ate this drink" , "- - for Two (song)" .)

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