Crossword Genius

Victor captured in offensive is ruined (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

insolvent

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'is ruined' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'victor captured in offensive' is the wordplay.
'victor' becomes 'V' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'captured' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'in offensive' becomes 'insolent' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'v' placed within 'insolent' is 'INSOLVENT'.

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(Other definitions for insolvent that I've seen before include "on the rocks" , "without the means to pay" , "unable to raise the wind" , "Snivel not, although you are bankrupt!" , "strapped for cash" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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