Crossword Genius

Abuse whisky — consume without restraint initially (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

maltreat

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'abuse' is the definition.
(I know that abuse can be written as maltreat)

'whisky consume without restraint initially' is the wordplay.
'whisky' becomes 'malt' (malt whisky is a kind of whisky).
'consume' becomes 'eat' (to consume something is to eat it).
'without' is an insertion indicator ('without' can be similar in meaning to 'outside').
'restraint initially' becomes 'r' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'malt'+'eat'='malteat'
'malteat' placed around 'r' is 'MALTREAT'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for maltreat that I've seen before include "Handle roughly, abuse" , "Use roughly" , "Behave badly towards on late tram" , "Harm" , "Act badly or cruelly towards someone" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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