Crossword Genius

Deplorable failing in aim to access credit line (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

criminal

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

'deplorable failing' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?

'in aim to access credit line' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'in' is present in the answer.
an anagram of 'aim' is 'ima' which is present in the left over letters.
'credit' could be 'cr' and 'cr' is located in the answer.
'line' could be 'l' (used when specifying particular lines from a poem) and 'l' is found in the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for criminal that I've seen before include "Person who breaks the law for a living" , "An habitual breaker of the law" , "Offender" , "Deplorable, shocking" , "Felon, malefactor" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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