Crossword Genius

All alone and greatly depressed, they say (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

solo

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'all alone' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'greatly depressed they say' is the wordplay.
'greatly' becomes 'so' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'depressed' becomes 'low' (similar in meaning).
'they say' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'low' is a homophone of 'lo'.
'so'+'lo'='SOLO'

'and' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for solo that I've seen before include "Card game; for one" , "(Piece performed) on one's own" , "One-person performance" , "Aline in Oslo" , "Go it alone" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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