Degenerate star's name suppressed in awful snarl-up (6)

I believe the answer is:

pulsar

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

'degenerate star's' is the definition.
'pulsar' can be an answer for 'star's' (pulsar is a kind of star). I am unsure of the 'degenerate' bit.

I don't understand the rest of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for pulsar that I've seen before include "Immoral, wicked" , "Regularly radiating stellar object" , "Star producing radio waves" , "Heavenly emitter of radio waves" , "Small and extremely dense star" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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