Crossword Genius

Diana duck in freezing, showing stupidity (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

idiocy

'stupidity' is the definition.
(I know that idiocy is a type of backwardness)

'diana duck in freezing' is the wordplay.
'diana' becomes 'Di' (Di is short for Diana).
'duck' becomes 'o' (resembles zero - 'duck' in cricket).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'freezing' becomes 'icy' (synonyms).
'di'+'o'='dio'
'dio' going into 'icy' is 'IDIOCY'.

'showing' is the link.

(Other definitions for idiocy that I've seen before include "Extreme silliness" , "Great folly" , "Imbecility" , "Extreme foolishness" , "Stupid act" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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