Crossword Genius

Teens were treated as bribe (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sweetener

'bribe' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'teens were treated' is the wordplay.
'treated' indicates anagramming the letters.
'teens'+'were'='teenswere'
'teenswere' with letters rearranged gives 'SWEETENER'.

'as' is the link.

(Other definitions for sweetener that I've seen before include "Something tart could do with this" , "A blend of Eastern and Western English" , "Substance like sugar" , "Saccharin, for example" , "carrot" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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