Crossword Genius

Closely storing a lot of nonsense in the cloud? (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

nebular

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

'closely storing a' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'lot of nonsense in the cloud?' is the wordplay.
'lot of' means to remove the last letter (I've seen 'lots of' mean this (the majority of the word)).
'nonsense' becomes 'bull' (I've seen this before).
'in the' is an insertion indicator.
'cloud?' becomes 'near' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'bull' with its final letter removed is 'bul'.
'bul' going into 'near' is 'NEBULAR'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for nebular that I've seen before include "Misty" , "Catch fire" , "Like dust that could be stellar" , "Cloudlike" , "Like a cloud (in space)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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