Crossword Genius

Reduce or lessen dire changes (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

slenderise

'reduce' is the definition.
('reduce'->'slenderize' is in my internal thesaurus and 'ize'->'ise')

'lessen dire changes' is the wordplay.
'changes' is an anagram indicator.
'lessen'+'dire'='lessendire'
'lessendire' anagrammed gives 'SLENDERISE'.

'or' acts as a link.

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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