Crossword Genius

Coolness of river with compacted snow around (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

nerve

'coolness' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'river with compacted snow around' is the wordplay.
'river with' becomes 'r' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'compacted snow' becomes 'neve' (nv is a type of snow).
'around' is an insertion indicator.
'r' placed inside 'neve' is 'NERVE'.

'of' is the link.

(Other definitions for nerve that I've seen before include "Boldness" , "Courage - cheek" , "Strand of body fibre" , "Grit" , "Valour, pluck" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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