Crossword Genius

Highly favoured? Not so much when retired, possibly (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

blessed

'highly favoured?' is the definition.
(eg favoured by God)

'not so much when retired possibly' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'not' could be 'less' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'less' is located in the answer.
'when' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

(Other definitions for blessed that I've seen before include "darned" , "Bedless (anag.)" , "Highly favoured or fortunate" , "worthy of respect" , "Happy; beatified" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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