Crossword Genius

Mentioned being sorry about faint heartedness (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

said

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

'mentioned' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'sorry about faint heartedness' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'about' could be 'a' (abbreviation in Chambers) and 'a' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'sid' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'being' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for said that I've seen before include "Uttered at Suez port" , "Stated" , "Spoke" , "Rumoured" , "put in speech" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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