Crossword Genius

Introduce steps to change pandemic (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

pestilence

'pandemic' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'introduce steps to change' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'steps' could be 'stile' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'stile' is found in the answer.
'change' could be 'pence' (as in small change coins) and 'pence' is present in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

(Other definitions for pestilence that I've seen before include "Fatal epidemic disease" , "that'll plague you" , "dire horseman?" , "it's an agent of evil" , "Plague - lent pieces (anag)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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