Threatened staff with a first-class degree (7)

I believe the answer is:

menaced

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'threatened' is the definition.
('menace' can be a synonym of 'threaten')

'staff with a first-class degree' is the wordplay.
'staff' becomes 'men' (I've seen this in other clues).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'a first class' becomes 'ace'.
'degree' becomes 'd' (this could be a standard abbreviation which I don't know about).
'men'+'ace'+'d'='MENACED'

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(Another definition for menaced that I've seen is " Threatened".)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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