Crossword Genius

Worried after reports of large scale credit crunch (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

masticate

'crunch' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'worried after reports of large scale credit' is the wordplay.
'worried' becomes 'ate' (something worrying may eat someone up).
'after' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'reports of large scale credit' becomes 'mastic' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'ate' put after 'mastic' is 'MASTICATE'.

(Other definitions for masticate that I've seen before include "Process food" , "Crush" , "Torpor" , "deal with mouthful" , "champ" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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