Crossword Genius

Carriage I removed from port hotel (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

calash

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

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

'i removed from port hotel' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'i' could be 'a' and 'a' is found within the answer.
'port' could be 'l' (abbreviation for L - 'port' is 'left' on a boat) and 'l' is located in the answer.
'hotel' could be 'h' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.) and 'h' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for calash that I've seen before include "carriage" , "Hood" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times and The Sunday Times.
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