Crossword Genius

Paragon belittled sap without good reason (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

justice

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'paragon belittled' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'sap without good reason' is the wordplay.
'sap' becomes 'juice' (I've seen this before).
'without' indicates putting letters inside ('without' can be similar in meaning to 'outside').
'good reason' becomes 'st' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'juice' placed around 'st' is 'JUSTICE'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for justice that I've seen before include "right outcome" , "One of man's 22 20 [SEVEN AGES]" , "Magistrate's title" , "Fair play" , "Judge, magistrate" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.
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