Crossword Genius

Slur I’d retracted well before fury (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

disparage

'slur' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'i'd retracted well before fury' is the wordplay.
'retracted' says the letters should be written backwards.
'well' becomes 'spa' (I've seen this before**).
'before' says to put letters next to each other.
'fury' becomes 'rage' ('rage' can be a synonym of 'fury').
'id' in reverse letter order is 'di'.
'di'+'spa'+'rage'='DISPARAGE'

(Other definitions for disparage that I've seen before include "Belittled" , "I grasped a change to belittle" , "Run down" , "Slight" , "Scorn" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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