Ghastly snide slur making sensational appearance (9)

I believe the answer is:

luridness

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'sensational appearance' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both human attributes as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?

'ghastly snide slur' is the wordplay.
'ghastly' is an anagram indicator (a ghastly spelling of the words).
'snide'+'slur'='snideslur'
'snideslur' anagrammed gives 'LURIDNESS'.

'making' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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