Crossword Genius

Mine with uranium left outside even though deplorable (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

pitiful

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'deplorable' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'mine with uranium left outside even though' is the wordplay.
'mine' becomes 'pit' (down the pit).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'uranium left' becomes 'ul' (this could be a standard abbreviation I've not previously seen).
'outside' means one lot of letters goes inside another (some letters go outside others).
'even though' becomes 'if'.
'pit'+'ul'='pitul'
'pitul' placed around 'if' is 'PITIFUL'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for pitiful that I've seen before include "Distressing" , "Tiny" , "in such a sorry state" , "Miserable" , "base" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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