Crossword Genius

Drama and passion in plane possibly losing tail (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

theatre

'drama' is the definition.
(theatre can mean the world of drama)

'passion in plane possibly losing tail' is the wordplay.
'passion' becomes 'heat' (synonyms).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'plane possibly' becomes 'tree' (I've seen this before).
'losing tail' means to remove the last letter.
'tree' with its final letter taken away is 'tre'.
'heat' inserted inside 'tre' is 'THEATRE'.

'and' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for theatre that I've seen before include "where Finney played" , "Auditorium" , "Globe, say" , "Criterion in London, say" , "The rate (anag.)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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