Crossword Genius

Queen, meeting communist, was mistaken (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

erred

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

'queen meeting communist' is the wordplay.
'queen' becomes 'er' (abbreviation for Elizabeth Regina).
'meeting' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'communist' becomes 'red' (red is a kind of communist).
'er'+'red'='ERRED'

(Other definitions for erred that I've seen before include "Made a mistake, was wrong" , "Went wrong" , "Gone astray!" , "Made mistakes" , "was inaccurate" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app