Crossword Genius

Hot spot in a sea that's rough (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

passionate

'hot' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)

'spot in a sea that's rough' is the wordplay.
'that's rough' is an anagram indicator (a rough or broken ordering of the letters).
'spot'+'in'+'a'+'sea'='spotinasea'
'spotinasea' is an anagram of 'PASSIONATE'.

(Other definitions for passionate that I've seen before include "enthusiastic" , "Showing intense feeling" , "Showing strong emotions" , "Burning" , "Strongly emotional" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.
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