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Very boring during a ball earlier (2,7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

in advance

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

'earlier' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adverbs. Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'very boring during a ball' is the wordplay.
'very' becomes 'v' (abbreviation).
'boring' means one lot of letters goes inside another (some letters must 'bore' a hole into other letters).
'during' becomes 'in' (I've seen this in other clues).
'ball' becomes 'dance' (I've seen this before).
'in'+'a'+'dance'='inadance'
'v' inserted inside 'inadance' is 'IN ADVANCE'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for in advance that I've seen before include "early" , "Ahead in place or time" , "Beforehand - can invade accordingly (2.7)" , "Before the event" .)

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