Crossword Genius

Say Elton's satellite connection to America is very bad (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

egregious

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

'very bad' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?

'say elton's satellite connection to america' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'say' could be 'eg' and 'eg' is found in the answer.
'satellite' could be 'io' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'io' is found within the answer.
'america' could be 'us' (abbreviation for the United States) and 'us' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

'is' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for egregious that I've seen before include "Shocking" , "Notably bad" , "Outstandingly villainous" , "Outstanding, outrageous" , "Flagrant; appalling" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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