Crossword Genius

Very sniffy with visitor heading off with soldier to club (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

allergic

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'soldier to club' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'very sniffy with visitor heading off' is the wordplay.
'very sniffy' becomes 'gic' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'visitor' becomes 'caller' (caller is a kind of visitor).
'heading off' means to remove the first letter.
'caller' with its initial letter removed is 'aller'.
'gic' put after 'aller' is 'ALLERGIC'.

'with' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for allergic that I've seen before include "Having unfavourable reaction to foods or plants" , "acting defensively" , "Hypersensitive to something" , "Reacting badly (to something)" , "Hypersensitive (to certain substances)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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