Getting mean with state prosecuting abandoned wife (9)
I believe the answer is:
averaging
'getting mean' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'state prosecuting abandoned wife' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'state' could be 'aver' (both can mean to declare) and 'aver' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'aging' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'with' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for averaging that I've seen before include "Assessing the general quality" , "Getting mean" , "Taking a mean" , "that has mean results" , "mean to emerge from it" .)