Crossword Genius

Explain recent trip at sea without Charlie (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

interpret

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

'explain' is the definition.
(interpreting is a kind of explaining)

'recent trip at sea without charlie' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'at' could be 'in' and 'in' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for interpret that I've seen before include "Translate into another language" , "Translate, decode" , "Translate, make sense of" , "Orally translate" , "Restate from one language into another" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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