Crossword Genius

Beginning to deal with world shortage (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

dearth

'shortage' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'beginning to deal with world' is the wordplay.
'beginning to' indicates taking the first letters.
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'world' becomes 'earth' (synonyms).
The initial letter of 'deal' is 'd'.
'd'+'earth'='DEARTH'

(Other definitions for dearth that I've seen before include "Acute shortage" , "Scarcity - famine" , "poverty" , "Lack of resources" , "Insufficient amount" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sun and The Times.
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