Crossword Genius

Essentially toxic delta area turning into rust (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

oxidation

'rust' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'essentially toxic delta area turning into' is the wordplay.
'essentially' indicates the central letters.
'delta' becomes 'd' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'area' becomes 'a' (maths abbreviation).
'turning' is an anagram indicator.
The middle of 'toxic' is 'oxi'.
'into' with letters rearranged gives 'tion'.
'oxi'+'d'+'a'+'tion'='OXIDATION'

(Other definitions for oxidation that I've seen before include "Rusting process" , "rust" , "instance of becoming dull?" , "Eg, rusting" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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