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Escaped emptiness after a meeting with journalist (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

avoided

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'escaped' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with communicating as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?

'emptiness after a meeting with journalist' is the wordplay.
'emptiness' becomes 'void' (synonyms).
'after' becomes 'a' (this could be a standard abbreviation which I don't know about).
'a meeting' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'journalist' becomes 'ed' (short for editor).
'void' after 'a' is 'avoid'.
'avoid'+'ed'='AVOIDED'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for avoided that I've seen before include "Stayed clear of" , "Shunned" , "Missed" , "Steered clear of" , "Eluded or dodged" .)

I've seen this clue in The Hindu.
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