Crossword Genius

See through empty promise to catch judge (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

penetrate

'see through' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'empty promise to catch judge' is the wordplay.
'empty' means to remove the middle letters.
'to catch' becomes 'net' (netting is a kind of catching).
'judge' becomes 'rate' (rating is a kind of judging).
'promise' with its middle removed is 'pe'.
'pe'+'net'+'rate'='PENETRATE'

(Other definitions for penetrate that I've seen before include "Pass into or through" , "Force way through, into" , "probe" , "Go through" , "Run through" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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