Crossword Genius

Murmured British union representative initially exploited (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

burbled

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'murmured' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are past participle verbs, I cannot understand how they can define each other.

'british union representative initially exploited' is the wordplay.
'initially' suggests taking the first letters.
'exploited' becomes 'bled' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The first letters of 'british union representative' is 'bur'.
'bur'+'bled'='BURBLED'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for burbled that I've seen is " Gurgled, as a river".)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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