Crossword Genius

Awfully repulsive crush (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

pulverise

'crush' is the definition.
('crush'->'pulverize' is in my internal thesaurus and 'ize'->'ise')

'awfully repulsive' is the wordplay.
'awfully' indicates an anagram.
'repulsive' with letters rearranged gives 'PULVERISE'.

(Other definitions for pulverise that I've seen before include "Grind to powder" , "Repulsive (anag.)" , "Beat to a pulp" , "Reduce to dust (S, not Z)" , "Crush thoroughly in a repulsive way" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Independent and The Telegraph.
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