Sparred, light-heartedly, disconcerting adolescent poet (8)

I believe the answer is:

bantered

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'sparred light-heartedly disconcerting adolescent poet' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with communicating as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?

'sparred light-heartedly' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'light' could be 'red' (red light is a kind of light) and 'red' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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