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The officer went off with him, anyhow

Ross

I believe the answer is:

eric

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'the officer went off with him anyhow' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'him anyhow' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'him' could be 'ric' and 'ric' is found in the answer.
A single letter 'e' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for eric that I've seen before include "Rice turned for the boy" , "Blair, perhaps" , "Cantona or Clapton?" , "Mr Clapton" , "---- Cantona, Manchester Utd favourite of the 1990s" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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