Lowered the moral character of Daphne's missing content when retired? (7)
I believe the answer is:
debased
'lowered' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'moral character of daphne's missing content when retired?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'character' could be 's' and 's' is found in the answer.
'content' could be 'ba' (BA is an example) and 'ba' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'deed' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for debased that I've seen before include "shamed" , "Lowered in value" , "corrupted" , "Lowered the quality of" , "Adulterated" .)