Crossword Genius

Willing to finish early and scrap tactical play (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

gambit

'tactical play' is the definition.

'willing to finish early and scrap' is the wordplay.
'willing' becomes 'game' (I've seen this before).
'to finish early' means to remove the last letter (I've seen 'finishing early' mean this).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'scrap' becomes 'bit' ('bit' can be a synonym of 'scrap').
'game' with its final letter removed is 'gam'.
'gam'+'bit'='GAMBIT'

(Other definitions for gambit that I've seen before include "tricky move" , "An opening sacrifice in chess for positional advantage" , "Sacrificial strategy in chess" , "Sacrificial chess opening" , "Eg, minestrone" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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