Crossword Genius

Baleful sickness upset no-good individual (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

malign

'baleful' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'sickness upset no-good individual' is the wordplay.
'sickness' becomes 'mal' (I've seen this before**).
'upset' is an anagram indicator.
'no' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation).
'good' becomes 'g' (abbreviation).
'individual' becomes 'i'.
'n'+'g'+'i'='ngi'
'ngi' is an anagram of 'ign'.
'mal'+'ign'='MALIGN'

(Other definitions for malign that I've seen before include "Evil-natured" , "Bad-mouth" , "Showing malice, say harmful things about" , "Laming, showing malice" , "Evil - cancerous" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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