Crossword Genius

Excellent ship backed by energy and skill (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

finesse

'skill' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'excellent ship backed by energy' is the wordplay.
'excellent' becomes 'fine' ('fine' can be a synonym of 'excellent'**).
'ship' becomes 'ss'.
'backed by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'energy' becomes 'e' (physics symbol as in E=mci).
'fine'+'ss'+'e'='FINESSE'

'and' is the link.

(Other definitions for finesse that I've seen before include "Delicate manipulation of a situation - perhaps at cards" , "Achieve with subtlety and skill" , "Impressive skill and delicacy" , "Refinement" , "Sophistication" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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