Crossword Genius

Carmen's pet distressed Cliff (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

escarpment

'cliff' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'carmen's pet distressed' is the wordplay.
'distressed' indicates anagramming the letters.
'carmens'+'pet'='carmenspet'
'carmenspet' is an anagram of 'ESCARPMENT'.

(Other definitions for escarpment that I've seen before include "Bluff" , "Face" , "Precipitous side of hill" , "Long edge of plateau" , "Steep slope - map's centre (anag)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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