Crossword Genius

Biblical figure’s way of working: marine areas one cleared (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

moses

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'biblical figure's' is the definition.

'way of working marine areas one cleared' is the wordplay.
'way of working marine' becomes 'mos' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'areas' becomes 'eyes' (eye is a kind of area).
'one cleared' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (the inside letters are cleared out).
'eyes' with its centre removed is 'es'.
'mos'+'es'='MOSES'

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(Other definitions for moses that I've seen before include "Religious figure" , "Aaron's brother" , "He led the Jews from captivity in Egypt" , "One given tablets" , "Hebrew prophet who received the ten commandments" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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