Crossword Genius

Under attack, fared badly on the street (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

strafed

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'under attack' is the definition.
The answer and definition are not the same part of speech. However, adjectives and past participle verbs can occasionally mean the same thing.

'fared badly on the street' is the wordplay.
'badly' indicates anagramming the letters.
'on' means one lot of letters goes inside another (as in clothing \'on\' a person).
'the street' becomes 'st' (**).
'fared' is an anagram of 'rafed'.
'rafed' enclosing 'st' is 'STRAFED'.

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