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Art Basel reeling after mag exposed material used in column (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

alabaster

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'material used in column' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot understand how one could define the other.

'art basel reeling after mag exposed' is the wordplay.
'reeling' indicates anagramming the letters.
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'exposed' indicates the central letters (the inside of the word is exposed).
The central letter of 'mag' is 'a'.
'art'+'basel'='artbasel'
'artbasel' anagrammed gives 'labaster'.
'labaster' after 'a' is 'ALABASTER'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for alabaster that I've seen before include "Arabs tale (anag.)" , "Type of gypsum" , "Altar base (anagr.)" , "statue material" , "that's smooth and white" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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