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Inspired Messiah? Not him, sick inside and tense (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

brilliant

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'inspired messiah?' is the definition.
The answer and definition are different parts of speech. However, adjectives and past participle verbs can sometimes define each other.

'not him sick inside and tense' is the wordplay.
'not him' becomes 'brian' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'sick' becomes 'ill' (similar in meaning).
'inside' indicates putting letters inside.
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'tense' becomes 't' (abbreviation used in many dictionaries).
'brian' placed around 'ill' is 'brillian'.
'brillian'+'t'='BRILLIANT'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for brilliant that I've seen before include "Glittering" , "Excellent; a diamond" , "Outstanding - shining" , "Shining intensly" , "Fantastic!" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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