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Cut delicate material and appraise it (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

lacerate

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'cut' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'delicate material and appraise it' is the wordplay.
'delicate material' becomes 'lace' (I've seen this before).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'appraise' becomes 'rat' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'it' becomes 'e' ('e' can mean 'electronic' which is similar to 'IT').
'lace'+'rat'+'e'='LACERATE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for lacerate that I've seen before include "Tear, wound, hurt" , "Clare ate (anag)" , "Deeply cut (flesh, skin)" , "Tear or gash roughly" , "Tear or cut (flesh) deeply" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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