Crossword Genius

Soften bulletin describing support from the east (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sweeten

'soften' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'bulletin describing support from the east' is the wordplay.
'bulletin' becomes 'news' (news bulletin is a kind of bulletin).
'describing' indicates putting letters inside (describe can mean to form the outline of).
'support' becomes 'tee' (tee is a kind of support).
'from the east' is a reversal indicator (on a map from right to left).
'news' going around 'tee' is 'neteews'.
'neteews' in reverse letter order is 'SWEETEN'.

(Other definitions for sweeten that I've seen before include "We teens! (anag)" , "Make fresh" , "Appease" , "Make more palatable" , "Add sugar etc" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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