Crossword Genius

Confess -- keeping family, and going down (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sinking

'going down' is the definition.
(sinking is a kind of going down)

'confess keeping family' is the wordplay.
'confess' becomes 'sing' (I've seen this before).
'keeping' is an insertion indicator.
'family' becomes 'kin' ('kin' can be a synonym of 'family').
'sing' placed around 'kin' is 'SINKING'.

'and' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for sinking that I've seen before include "Falling to the bottom" , "in decline" , "failing" , "Declining" , "Going down" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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