Crossword Genius

Involve rogue and spiteful woman in deceit (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

implicate

'involve' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'rogue and spiteful woman in deceit' is the wordplay.
'rogue' becomes 'imp'.
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'spiteful woman' becomes 'cat'.
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'deceit' becomes 'lie' (I've seen this in other clues).
'cat' placed within 'lie' is 'licate'.
'imp'+'licate'='IMPLICATE'

(Other definitions for implicate that I've seen before include "Suggest someone is involved or took part in a crime" , "Involve in a crime, give evidence accordingly" , "Grass up" , "Involve in, say a crime" , "Point finger at criminal" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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