Smooth out articles in French about old card game (8)

I believe the answer is:

unruffle

'smooth out' is the definition.

'articles in french about old card game' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'french' could be 'f' and 'f' is present in the answer.
'game' could be 'ru' (rugby union) and 'ru' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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