Crossword Genius

The French blunder with American backing's bizarre (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

surreal

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

'the french blunder with american backing's' is the wordplay.
'the french' becomes 'la'.
'blunder' becomes 'err' (I've seen this before).
'with american' becomes 'us' (I am not sure about the 'with' bit.**).
'backing's' is a reversal indicator (I've seen 'backing' mean this).
'la'+'err'+'us'='laerrus'
'laerrus' in reverse letter order is 'SURREAL'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for surreal that I've seen before include "Like the paintings of Rene Magritte" , "Disorienting and hallucinatory in appearance" , "Dreamlike; like Dali's art" , "Not of this world" , "Daliesque" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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