Crossword Genius

Circle around small lakes, heading north, most of them boring (4-3-4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

loop-the-loop

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

'circle around small lakes heading north most of them boring' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot judge whether this works.

'circle around small lakes heading north most of them boring' is the wordplay.
'circle around' becomes 'loop' (I've seen this in another clue).
'small lakes' becomes 'pool' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'heading north' says the letters should be written in reverse (in a down clue, letters travel north).
'most of' means to remove the last letter.
'boring' is an insertion indicator (to bore something can mean to drill into it).
'pool' back-to-front is 'loop'.
'them' with its final letter taken off is 'the'.
'loop'+'loop'='looploop'
'looploop' enclosing 'the' is 'LOOP-THE-LOOP'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for loop-the-loop that I've seen before include "Aerobatic manoeuvre" , "Fly a vertical circle" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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