Crossword Genius

Lower the reputation of revolutionary American writer (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cheapen

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'lower the reputation' is the definition.
'cheapen' can be an answer for 'lower' (I've seen this before). I am not certain of the 'the reputation' bit.

'revolutionary american writer' is the wordplay.
'revolutionary' becomes 'che' (Che Guevara the Marxist revolutionary).
'american' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'writer' becomes 'pen' (I've seen this before).
'che'+'a'+'pen'='CHEAPEN'

'of' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for cheapen that I've seen before include "Degrade (something)" , "Depreciate" , "Decry or devalue" , "Tried" , "decrease in value" .)

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