Jack meets loveless Jo on surer ground? They've made a solemn retraction (8)

I believe the answer is:

abjurers

'they've made a solemn retraction' is the definition.

'jack meets loveless jo on surer ground?' is the wordplay.
'jack' becomes 'ab'.
'meets' says to put letters next to each other.
'loveless jo' becomes 'j' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'on' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'ground?' indicates anagramming the letters (grind the letters ).
'surer' anagrammed gives 'urers'.
'j' inserted inside 'urers' is 'jurers'.
'ab'+'jurers'='ABJURERS'

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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