Crossword Genius

Hellish region giving European a puzzle to solve (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

erebus

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

'hellish region' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.

'european a puzzle to solve' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'european' could be 'e' (abbreviation e.g. EU) and 'e' is found within the answer.
'puzzle' could be 'rebus' (type of visual puzzle) and 'rebus' is located in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'giving' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for erebus that I've seen before include "Dark and gloomy cavern between earth and Hades." , "Greek god of darkness, son of Chaos" , "The abode of the dead" , "Level of the underworld" , "God of darkness - cavern on the way to Hades - active volcano in Antarctica" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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