Crossword Genius

Crooked teeth -- gran's wanting a new brace (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

strengthen

'brace' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'crooked teeth gran's wanting a new' is the wordplay.
'crooked' indicates an anagram.
'wanting' is a deletion indicator (to want something can mean to lack it or need it).
'new' becomes 'n' (**).
'teeth'+'grans'='teethgrans'
'teethgrans' with 'a' taken out is 'teethgrns'.
'teethgrns' is an anagram of 'strengthe'.
'strengthe'+'n'='STRENGTHEN'

(Other definitions for strengthen that I've seen before include "Brace" , "Bolster" , "Fortify" , "Toughen up" , "Make tough" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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