Accepts terrible cups of tea (5,2,2)

I believe the answer is:

faces up to

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'accepts' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with communicating as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?

'terrible cups of tea' is the wordplay.
'terrible' is an anagram indicator.
'cups'+'of'+'tea'='cupsoftea'
'cupsoftea' is an anagram of 'FACES UP TO'.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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