Crossword Genius

Married? Agree to lose initial spirit (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

mettle

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'spirit' is the definition.
(I know that mettle is a type of braveness)

'married? agree to lose initial' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'married?' could be 'm' (abbreviation, e.g. in genealogy) and 'm' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ettle' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for mettle that I've seen before include "Courage sounds like iron, for instance" , "Quality" , "Grit" , "The courage to carry on" , "Strength of character, courage" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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