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Boy noticed the German editor had damaged stockings (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

laddered

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'damaged stockings' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to change as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'boy noticed the german editor' is the wordplay.
'boy' becomes 'lad' (informal term for boy).
'noticed the german' becomes 'der' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'editor' becomes 'ed' (abbreviation).
'lad'+'der'+'ed'='LADDERED'

'had' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for laddered that I've seen before include "Descriptive of a stocking with a run" , "Guided around snake" , "23 25 [WARDROBE MALFUNCTION] perhaps?" , "Unravelled, stocking for instance" , "(Of tights or stockings) having a run" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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