Crossword Genius

Area of commerce functions aboard double-decker? (3,8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

big business

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

'area of commerce' is the definition.
'big business' can be an answer for 'commerce' (thesaurus). I'm not certain of the 'area of' bit.

'functions aboard double-decker?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'functions' could be 'sines' (sine is a kind of function) and 'sines' is present in the answer.
'double-decker?' could be 'bus' (synonyms) and 'bus' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'big' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for big business that I've seen before include "Large commercial enterprises, collectively" , "Large-scale financial activity" , "Powerful firms" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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