Crossword Genius

Most meagre spring initially spilling into others (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sparsest

'most meagre' is the definition.
(sparse can mean meagre or minimal)

'spring initially spilling into others' is the wordplay.
'spring' becomes 'spa' (spa can mean a mineral spring).
'initially' suggests taking the first letters.
'into' indicates putting letters inside.
'others' becomes 'rest' (eg the rest of a group).
The initial letter of 'spilling' is 's'.
's' inserted within 'rest' is 'rsest'.
'spa'+'rsest'='SPARSEST'

(Another definition for sparsest that I've seen is " Most scattered".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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