Crossword Genius

Tried to make potted meat - nothing less (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

attempted

'tried' is the definition.
('attempt' can be a synonym of 'try')

'make potted meat nothing less' is the wordplay.
'make' is an anagram indicator.
'nothing' becomes 'O' (looks like zero - 0).
'less' suggests deleting specific letters (less can mean minus).
'potted'+'meat'='pottedmeat'
'pottedmeat' with 'o' taken away is 'pttedmeat'.
'pttedmeat' is an anagram of 'ATTEMPTED'.

'to' is the link.

(Other definitions for attempted that I've seen before include "Tried" , "Made an effort to accomplish something" , "Endeavoured" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail and The Guardian.
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