Crossword Genius

Bemoan being thirsty around East Central London (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

decry

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'bemoan' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with communicating as well as being verbs in their base form.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?

'thirsty around east central london' is the wordplay.
'thirsty' becomes 'dry' (similar in meaning).
'around' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'east central london' becomes 'ec' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'dry' placed around 'ec' is 'DECRY'.

'being' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for decry that I've seen before include "Run down" , "Disparage, criticise" , "Derogate" , "Disparage, put down" , "Publicly denounce" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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