Crossword Genius

Urges to grasp core of definitive disciplines (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

punishes

'disciplines' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'urges to grasp core of definitive' is the wordplay.
'urges' becomes 'pushes' (pushing is a kind of urging).
'to grasp' indicates putting letters inside.
'core of' means to look at the middle letters.
The middle letters of 'definitive' are 'ni'.
'pushes' going around 'ni' is 'PUNISHES'.

(Another definition for punishes that I've seen is " jails, perhaps"".)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.