Crossword Genius

Using muscle fail to catch moggy and give up (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

abdicate

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'give up' is the definition.
(abdicating is a kind of giving up)

'using muscle fail to catch moggy' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'muscle' could be 'ab' (short for abdominal muscle) and 'ab' is found within the answer.
'moggy' could be 'cat' (I've seen this before) and 'cat' is found in the answer.
'fail' could be 'die' (synonyms) and 'die' is found in the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'and' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for abdicate that I've seen before include "Give up power" , "Resign from or renounce the throne" , "surrender" , "Give up a throne" , "Renounce one's throne" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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