Crossword Genius

Tea awfully dear — it's a travesty (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

charade

'a travesty' is the definition.
('charade' can be a synonym of 'travesty')

'tea awfully dear' is the wordplay.
'tea' becomes 'cha' (cha is a type of tea).
'awfully' indicates anagramming the letters.
'dear' anagrammed gives 'rade'.
'cha'+'rade'='CHARADE'

'it's' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for charade that I've seen before include "Farcical pretence" , "Sustained pretence" , "An absurd pretence, could be a game" , "Game in which the puzzle is acted out" , "He'd a car but it was only empty pretence" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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