Blamed a number before having made certain (8)
I believe the answer is:
censured
'blamed' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a number before having made certain' is the wordplay.
'a number before' becomes 'c' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'having' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'made certain' becomes 'ensured' ('ensure' can be a synonym of 'make certain').
'c'+'ensured'='CENSURED'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for censured that I've seen before include "Rebuked formally" , "Strongly criticised or condemned" , "Blamed and strongly rebuked" , "Reproached or criticised" .)