Crossword Genius

Party left fuel out - that's sad (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

doleful

'sad' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'party left fuel out' is the wordplay.
'party' becomes 'do' (do can informally mean a party).
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation).
'out' indicates anagramming the letters (out can mean wrong or inaccurate).
'fuel' with letters rearranged gives 'eful'.
'do'+'l'+'eful'='DOLEFUL'

'that's' is the link.

(Other definitions for doleful that I've seen before include "Sad" , "Miserable" , "not happy?" , "Cheerless" , "down in the dumps" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.
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