Crossword Genius

Cautiously said tough editor restricts extreme letters (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

hazarded

'cautiously said' is the definition.

'tough editor restricts extreme letters' is the wordplay.
'tough' becomes 'hard' ('hard' is associated in meaning with 'tough').
'editor' becomes 'ed'.
'restricts' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'extreme letters' becomes 'az' (A and Z are at the extremes of the alphabet).
'hard'+'ed'='harded'
'harded' going around 'az' is 'HAZARDED'.

(Another definition for hazarded that I've seen is " Risked".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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