Crossword Genius

Stinker going from bad to worse? (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

rotter

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'stinker' is the definition.
(I know that stinker can be written as rotter)

'bad to worse?' is the wordplay.
'bad' becomes 'rot' (I've seen this before).
'to worse?' becomes 'ter' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'rot'+'ter'='ROTTER'

'going from' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for rotter that I've seen before include "one going bad?" , "Cad, stinker" , "Rogue" , "Bad guy" , "Something going off" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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