Retaliated as salesman was dishonest (7)
I believe the answer is:
replied
'retaliated' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are past participle verbs, I cannot understand how they can define each other.
'salesman was dishonest' is the wordplay.
'salesman' becomes 'rep' (sales representative).
'was dishonest' becomes 'lied' (lying is being dishonest).
'rep'+'lied'='REPLIED'
'as' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for replied that I've seen before include "Made some response" , "Answered back" , "Gave answer" , "Wrote back" , "came back" .)