Crossword Genius

Contemptuous of score (almost) by university in gridiron league (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

scornful

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'contemptuous' is the definition.
(I know that contemptuous can be written as scornful)

'score almost by university in gridiron league' is the wordplay.
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'university in gridiron' becomes 'nfu' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'league' becomes 'l' (abbreviation).
'score' with its final letter removed is 'scor'.
'scor'+'nfu'+'l'='SCORNFUL'

'of' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for scornful that I've seen before include "Expressing extreme contempt" , "Contemptuous or derisory" , "Contemptuous or derisive" , "Disdainful, contemptuous" , "Dismissive, contemptuous" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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