Crossword Genius

Struck son getting low grade on test (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

smote

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

'son getting low grade on test' is the wordplay.
'son getting' becomes 's' (I've seen this in other clues).
'low grade' becomes 'e' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'on' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'test' becomes 'mot'.
'e' after 'mot' is 'mote'.
's'+'mote'='SMOTE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for smote that I've seen before include "Hit" , "Struck firmly" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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