Crossword Genius

Bizarre, retiring somewhere in California -- blunder by you and me? (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

surreal

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'bizarre' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'retiring somewhere in california blunder by you and me?' is the wordplay.
'retiring' is a reversal indicator.
'somewhere in california' becomes 'la' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'blunder' becomes 'err' (I've seen this before).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'you and me?' becomes 'us'.
'la'+'err'+'us'='laerrus'
'laerrus' reversed gives 'SURREAL'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for surreal that I've seen before include "Outlandish" , "Bizarre, fantastic" , "Weird; dreamlike" , "Involving fantastical imagery" , "Odd" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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