Crossword Genius

Maintain it's a very short text (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

aver

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'maintain' is the definition.
(averring is a kind of maintaining)

'a very short text' is the wordplay.
'very short text' becomes 'ver' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'a'+'ver'='AVER'

'it's' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for aver that I've seen before include "Profess" , "State firmly, perhaps rave" , "State firmly - even rave about" , "Prove to be true" , "To declare or affirm solemnly as true" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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