Crossword Genius

Dirty turf laid around road island (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sordid

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

'dirty turf' is the definition.
'sordid' can be an answer for 'dirty' (I've seen this before). I'm unsure of the 'turf' bit.

'laid around road island' is the wordplay.
'laid' becomes 'sod' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'around' is an insertion indicator.
'road' becomes 'rd' (abbreviation).
'island' becomes 'i' (geographical abbreviation).
'rd'+'i'='rdi'
'sod' placed around 'rdi' is 'SORDID'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sordid that I've seen before include "Squalid or ignorable" , "Dirty, mean" , "meanness" , "Mean and grubby" , "'Seamy, seedy (6)'" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sun and The Times.
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