Crossword Genius

Smears mark broken signal (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

maligns

'smears' is the definition.
(maligning is a kind of smearing)

'mark broken signal' is the wordplay.
'mark' becomes 'm'.
'broken' indicates anagramming the letters.
'signal' is an anagram of 'aligns'.
'm'+'aligns'='MALIGNS'

(Other definitions for maligns that I've seen before include "Badmouths" , "Defames" , "Says unpleasant and untrue things about" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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