Crossword Genius

Wandered off to get the old violin out (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

strayed

'wandered off' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'the old violin out' is the wordplay.
'the old' becomes 'ye' (resembles a historical spelling of 'the').
'violin' becomes 'strad' (Stradivari abbreviation).
'out' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'ye' going into 'strad' is 'STRAYED'.

'to get' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for strayed that I've seen before include "Wandered away" , "Wandered; digressed" , "Went off the track" , "Wandered off course" , "Went off course" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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