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' (as in a mining pit).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'uranium left' becomes 'ul' (this might be a standard abbreviation which I don't know about).
'outside' means one lot of letters goes inside another (some letters go outside others).
'even though' becomes 'if'.
'pit'+'ul'='pitul'
'pitul' enclosing '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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