Crossword Genius

Coming up: excellent, fine salt absorbing a liqueur (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ratafia

'liqueur' is the definition.
(ratafia is a kind of liqueur)

'coming up excellent fine salt absorbing a' is the wordplay.
'coming up' says the letters should be written backwards.
'excellent' becomes 'ai'.
'fine' becomes 'f' (abbreviation).
'salt' becomes 'tar' (synonyms).
'absorbing' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'ai'+'f'+'tar'='aiftar'
'aiftar' going around 'a' is 'aifatar'.
'aifatar' written backwards gives 'RATAFIA'.

(Other definitions for ratafia that I've seen before include "Brandy liqueur with almonds or peach, apricot or cherry kernels" , "Almond biscuit/liqueur" , "Biscuits" , "Almond flavouring essence" , "A liqueur; almond flavouring" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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