Crossword Genius

Flailing object found around research hospital (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

threshing

'flailing' is the definition.
(I know that flailing can be written as threshing)

'object found around research hospital' is the wordplay.
'object' becomes 'thing' (an object is a thing or item).
'found around' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'research' becomes 'res' (academic abbreviation).
'hospital' becomes 'h' (abbreviation for hospital on maps).
'res'+'h'='resh'
'thing' enclosing 'resh' is 'THRESHING'.

(Another definition for threshing that I've seen is " Separating grain".)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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