Crossword Genius

Engineers gave up and retreated (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

receded

'retreated' is the definition.
('recede' can be a synonym of 'retreat')

'engineers gave up' is the wordplay.
'engineers' becomes 're' (Royal Engineers).
'gave up' becomes 'ceded' ('cede' can be a synonym of 'give up').
're'+'ceded'='RECEDED'

'and' is the link.

(Other definitions for receded that I've seen before include "Fell back" , "Pulled back" , "Moved backwards" , "withdrew" , "Ebbed" .)

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