Crossword Genius

Briefly turned air down (2,1,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

in a word

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

'turned air down' is the wordplay.
'turned' is an anagram indicator.
'air'+'down'='airdown'
'airdown' is an anagram of 'IN A WORD'.

(Other definitions for in a word that I've seen before include "summing up" , "To summarize" , "concise" , "Where letters are usually found" , "To summarise (the shortest way possible!)" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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