Crossword Genius

Swear allegiance at the front, church getting cross out (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

efface

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'cross out' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'swear allegiance at the front church' is the wordplay.
'swear' becomes 'eff' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'at the front' suggests taking the first letters.
'church' becomes 'CE' (abbreviation for Church of England).
The first letter of 'allegiance' is 'a'.
'eff'+'a'+'ce'='EFFACE'

'getting' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for efface that I've seen before include "Delete, wipe out" , "The selling of goods in large quantities" , "Erase a mark from a surface" , "Obliterate by rubbing out" , "Rub out entirely, obliterate" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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