Crossword Genius

Copper having youthful exterior essentially swearing in native tongue (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

vernacular

'native tongue' is the definition.

'copper having youthful exterior essentially swearing' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'copper' could be 'cu' (chemical symbol) and 'cu' is found in the answer.
'youthful' could be 'vernal' ('vernal' can be a synonym of 'youthful') and 'vernal' is found in the remaining letters.
The remaining letters 'ar' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'in' is the link.

(Other definitions for vernacular that I've seen before include "Characteristic language" , "Local-style" , "Everyday language" , "Native tongue - dialect" , "Native language" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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