Crossword Genius

Thick soup paste and black olive starter (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

gumbo

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

'paste and black olive starter' is the wordplay.
'paste' becomes 'gum' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'starter' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letters of 'black olive' is 'bo'.
'gum'+'bo'='GUMBO'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for gumbo that I've seen before include "Patois" , "Thick soup" , "Okra; spicy Cajun dish" , "Spicy Cajun soup" , "Spicy soup; okra" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sunday Times.
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