Crossword Genius

Channel influence to contain annoying person (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

spillway

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

'channel' is the definition.
(spillway is a kind of channel)

'influence to contain annoying person' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'person' could be 'pi' (PI is an example) and 'pi' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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