Crossword Genius

Criticised frightfully bad meal with stone in it (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

lambasted

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'criticised' is the definition.
(lambasting is a kind of criticising)

'frightfully bad meal with stone in it' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'stone' could be 'st' and 'st' is located in the answer.
'it' could be 'e' ('e' can mean 'electronic' which is similar to 'IT') and 'e' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for lambasted that I've seen before include "Made blast (anag) - reprimanded" , "Tore strips off" , "Belts Adam (anag)" , "Thrashed" , "Roasted" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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