Crossword Genius

Tense and certainly not flawless (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

imperfect

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'tense' is the definition.
(the imperfect tense is a grammatical tense)

'certainly not flawless' is the wordplay.
'certainly not' becomes 'im' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'flawless' becomes 'perfect' (similar in meaning).
'im'+'perfect'='IMPERFECT'

'and' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for imperfect that I've seen before include "Deficient" , "seconds" , "Flawed, defective" , "being immature" , "Faulty; tense" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish News.
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