Crushed after former lover spoke (9)
I believe the answer is:
expressed
'lover spoke' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with communicating as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'crushed after former' is the wordplay.
'crushed' becomes 'pressed' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'after' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'former' becomes 'ex' (prefix meaning former or onetime).
'pressed' put after 'ex' is 'EXPRESSED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for expressed that I've seen before include "Conveyed in words" , "Said" , "Communicated in words" , "Stated, uttered" , "Put into words" .)