One taking third starter over dessert was bad (7)

'bad' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'one taking third starter over dessert' is the wordplay.
'one' becomes 'ace' (ace has a value of one in some card games).
'taking' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'starter' says to take the initial letters.
'over' says the letters should be written backwards.
'dessert' becomes 'pud' (short for pudding).
The initial letter of 'third' is 't'.
'pud' written backwards gives 'dup'.
'ace' going around 't' is 'acte'.
'acte'+'dup'='ACTEDUP'

'was' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?