Issue brought up about tedious contracts (8)

I believe the answer is:

deflates

'contracts' is the definition.

'issue brought up about tedious' is the wordplay.
'issue' becomes 'seed' (**).
'brought up' is a reversal indicator (down clues only).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'tedious' becomes 'flat'.
'seed' written backwards gives 'dees'.
'dees' going around 'flat' is 'DEFLATES'.

(Another definition for deflates that I've seen is " Lets the air out".)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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