Crossword Genius

Merit of French verse maybe (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

deserve

'merit' is the definition.
(I know that merit can be written as deserve)

'of french verse maybe' is the wordplay.
'of french' becomes 'de' ('of' in French).
'maybe' is an anagram indicator.
'verse' with letters rearranged gives 'serve'.
'de'+'serve'='DESERVE'

(Other definitions for deserve that I've seen before include "Merit, earn" , "Be entitled to" , "Warrant" , "Merit (something)" , "Severed (anag)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.
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