Crossword Genius

Watering down of grown-up portion, with drug introduced (12)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

adulteration

'watering down' is the definition.
(to water something down is to adulterate it)

'grown-up portion with drug introduced' is the wordplay.
'grown-up' becomes 'adult' (informal term for an adult).
'portion' becomes 'ration' (ration is a kind of portion).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'drug' becomes 'e' (E is another name for ecstasy).
'introduced' is an insertion indicator.
'adult'+'ration'='adultration'
'adultration' going around 'e' is 'ADULTERATION'.

'of' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for adulteration that I've seen before include "Corruption" , "Debasement" , "pollution" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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.