Row after whip becomes more spiteful (7)

I believe the answer is:

cattier

'more spiteful' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'row after whip' is the wordplay.
'row' becomes 'tier' (a tier is a row of things).
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'whip' becomes 'cat' (cat o' nine tails, cat for short is a type of whip).
'tier' after 'cat' is 'CATTIER'.

'becomes' acts as a link.

(Another definition for cattier that I've seen is " more spiteful".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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