Crossword Genius

Country game getting a lot of criticism (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

rustic

'country' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'game getting a lot of criticism' is the wordplay.
'game' becomes 'RU' (rugby union).
'getting' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'a lot of' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'criticism' becomes 'stick' (as in giving someone stick).
'stick' with its final letter taken off is 'stic'.
'ru'+'stic'='RUSTIC'

(Other definitions for rustic that I've seen before include "Simple and unsophisticated as of the countryside" , "Simple and unsophisticated as in the country" , "Hodge" , "A yokel" , "unrefined" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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