Crossword Genius

Completely lost, having ruined atlas with ale (3,2,3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

all at sea

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

'completely lost' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether this works.

'ruined atlas with ale' is the wordplay.
'ruined' indicates an anagram.
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'atlas' after 'ale' is 'aleatlas'.
'aleatlas' is an anagram of 'ALL AT SEA'.

'having' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for all at sea that I've seen before include "Entire crew" , "Situation with no sailors in port" , "Utterly confused, totally on the ocean" , "Completely confused on voyage?" , "Rescuers at Dunkirk were thus" .)

Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app