Crossword Genius

Single upright character being put out as spotless (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

unmarred

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

'spotless' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?

'single upright character being put out' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'single' could be 'a' and 'a' is present in the answer.
'character' could be 'u' and 'u' is found in the answer.
'being' could be 'red' (red is a kind of being) and 'red' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'as' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for unmarred that I've seen before include "Not spoilt" , "Not injured" , "without injury" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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