Crossword Genius

Agent sat out to vegetate (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

stagnate

'to vegetate' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'agent sat out' is the wordplay.
'out' is an anagram indicator (out can mean wrong or inaccurate).
'agent'+'sat'='agentsat'
'agentsat' anagrammed gives 'STAGNATE'.

(Other definitions for stagnate that I've seen before include "Fester" , "resemble pond water?" , "Lapse into inactivity" , "Become still and stale, pond or people (8)" , "Become stale or inactive" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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