Crossword Genius

Society's taken in by the merry, dissolute versifier (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

rhymester

'versifier' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'society's taken in by the merry dissolute' is the wordplay.
'society' becomes 's' (common abbreviation in names of organisations).
'taken in by' is an insertion indicator.
'dissolute' indicates an anagram.
'the'+'merry'='themerry'
'themerry' with letters rearranged gives 'rhymeter'.
's' put into 'rhymeter' is 'RHYMESTER'.

(Other definitions for rhymester that I've seen before include "Writer of short poems" , "Versifier" , "Would-be poet" , "Poor poet" , "mediocre poet" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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