Crossword Genius

Conked out clutching bottle? That’s sad (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

dispirited

'sad' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'conked out clutching bottle?' is the wordplay.
'conked out' becomes 'died' ('die' can be a synonym of 'conk out').
'clutching' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'bottle?' becomes 'spirit' (I've seen this before**).
'died' going around 'spirit' is 'DISPIRITED'.

'that's' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for dispirited that I've seen before include "low" , "Dejected, discouraged" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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