When insurer originally insured weapon (7)

I believe the answer is:

assagai

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'weapon' is the definition.
(assagai is a kind of weapon)

'when insurer originally insured' is the wordplay.
'when' becomes 'as' (eg 'when I walked' means 'as I walked').
'insurer' becomes 'saga' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'originally' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'insured' is 'i'.
'as'+'saga'+'i'='ASSAGAI'

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(Other definitions for assagai that I've seen before include "Spear used in S Africa" , "Zulu weaponry" , "Weapon" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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