Crossword Genius

Long, ultimately dire boring thread (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

yearn

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'long' is the definition.
(I know that long can be written as yearn)

'ultimately dire boring thread' is the wordplay.
'ultimately dire' becomes 'e' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'boring' means one lot of letters goes inside another (some letters must 'bore' a hole into other letters).
'thread' becomes 'yarn' (synonyms).
'e' inserted into 'yarn' is 'YEARN'.

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(Other definitions for yearn that I've seen before include "Have a craving" , "Long - pine" , "Mark of injury" , "Have an intense feeling of longing" , "Ache, crave" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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