Itinerant German lied and feigned illness (10)

I believe the answer is:

malingered

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'feigned illness' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are past participle verbs, I don't understand how they can define each other.

'itinerant german lied' is the wordplay.
'itinerant' indicates anagramming the letters (I've seen this in other clues).
'german'+'lied'='germanlied'
'germanlied' with letters rearranged gives 'MALINGERED'.

'and' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for malingered that I've seen is " skived off".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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