Academic, getting inferior edition, grumbled (9)

I believe the answer is:

maundered

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'grumbled' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with communicating as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?

'academic getting inferior edition' is the wordplay.
'academic' becomes 'ma'.
'getting' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'inferior' becomes 'under' (I've seen this before).
'edition' becomes 'ed'.
'ma'+'under'+'ed'='MAUNDERED'

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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