Crossword Genius

Serious injury from blade brought into AE (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

acute

'serious' is the definition.
(acute can mean serious in a medical sense)

'injury from blade brought into ae' is the wordplay.
'injury from blade' becomes 'cut' (eg cut from a knife).
'brought into' indicates putting letters inside.
'cut' going into 'ae' is 'ACUTE'.

(Other definitions for acute that I've seen before include "Shrewd; severe" , "Shrewd; serious" , "Piercing" , "quick on the uptake" , "less than right" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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