Crossword Genius

In which Merlin's mostly enveloped by a little smoke in turn? (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

magic

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

'in which merlin's mostly enveloped by a little' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?

'smoke in turn?' is the wordplay.
'smoke' becomes 'cig' (I've seen this before).
'in' becomes 'am' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'turn?' says the letters should be written in reverse (I've seen 'turn' mean this).
'cig'+'am'='cigam'
'cigam' in reverse letter order is 'MAGIC'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for magic that I've seen before include "Illusory feat" , "Enchanting quality" , "Unexpectedly produce" , "Brilliant -- deception" , "Tricks" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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