Crossword Genius

Condemn nasty creep in court (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

deprecate

'condemn' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'nasty creep in court' is the wordplay.
'nasty' indicates anagramming the letters (a nasty or wrong spelling).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'court' becomes 'date' (romantically pursue).
'creep' with letters rearranged gives 'eprec'.
'eprec' placed inside 'date' is 'DEPRECATE'.

(Other definitions for deprecate that I've seen before include "Deplore; disparage" , "Feel and express disapproval of" , "Disapprove of" , "Deplore or belittle" , "Express strong disapproval of" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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