Crossword Genius

Utter anarchy at first in outskirts of Sydney (3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

say

'utter' is the definition.
(to utter something is to speak or say it)

'anarchy at first in outskirts of sydney' is the wordplay.
'at first' says to take the initial letters.
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'outskirts of' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'sydney' with its centre removed is 'sy'.
The first letter of 'anarchy' is 'a'.
'a' going into 'sy' is 'SAY'.

(Other definitions for say that I've seen before include "Aver" , "Opportunity to influence < > state" , "Utter; e.g." , "Authority to influence decision" , "State; for instance" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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