Crossword Genius

Exploit is defended by creative influence (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

misuse

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'exploit' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'is defended by creative influence' is the wordplay.
'defended by' is an insertion indicator.
'creative influence' becomes 'muse' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'is' put inside 'muse' is 'MISUSE'.

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(Other definitions for misuse that I've seen before include "Apply badly or incorrectly" , "Employ or apply wrongly" , "Treat badly, unfairly" , "Mistreat, misapply" , "Treat the wrong way or for the wrong purpose" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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