Crossword Genius

Salacious verse an essential in education for the first time (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

dirty

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'salacious' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)

'verse an essential in education for the first time' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'an' could be 'i' (Roman numeral for one) and 'i' is found within the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'dry' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for dirty that I've seen before include "Lewd" , "Muddy" , "Begrimed" , "1971 film with Clint Eastwood" , "producing a lot of fallout" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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