Severely criticise rotten cheats (6)

I believe the answer is:

scathe

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'severely criticise' is the definition.
'scathe' can be an answer for 'criticise' (thesaurus). I'm not certain of the 'severely' bit.

'rotten cheats' is the wordplay.
'rotten' indicates an anagram.
'cheats' is an anagram of 'SCATHE'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for scathe that I've seen before include "Harm, injure" , "Carpet" , "To scorn" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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