Crossword Genius

Beat the unbeatable (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

best

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'unbeatable' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'beat the' is the wordplay.
'beat' becomes 'bes' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'the' becomes 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects).
'bes'+'t'='BEST'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for best that I've seen before include "Most outstanding" , "Most excellent - late football star" , "former football star" , "erstwhile drummer" , "Most suitably" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail and The Guardian.
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