Cracking shooting jackets South American returned (9)

I believe the answer is:

fissuring

'cracking' is the definition.
(fissuring is a kind of cracking)

'shooting jackets south american returned' is the wordplay.
'shooting' becomes 'firing' (firing is a kind of shooting).
'jackets' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'south' becomes 's' (abbreviation).
'american' becomes 'US' (abbreviation for United States).
'returned' is a reversal indicator.
'us' backwards is 'su'.
's'+'su'='ssu'
'firing' placed around 'ssu' is 'FISSURING'.

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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