Crossword Genius

Rubbish match official getting us embittered at first (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

refuse

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'rubbish match' is the definition.
'refuse' can be an answer for 'rubbish' (thesaurus). I am unsure of the 'match' bit.

'official getting us embittered at first' is the wordplay.
'official' becomes 'ref' (match official in football, say).
'getting' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'at first' says to take the initial letters.
The first letter of 'embittered' is 'e'.
'ref'+'us'+'e'='REFUSE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for refuse that I've seen before include "Say no to garbage" , "Decline to accept - rubbish" , "litter" , "Decline to take the rubbish" , "Decline, repudiate" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.