Irish friend led astray inside crater (7)

I believe the answer is:

caldera

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'crater' is the definition.
(I know that Caldera is a type of crater)

'irish friend led astray inside' is the wordplay.
'irish friend' becomes 'cara' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'astray' indicates anagramming the letters.
'inside' indicates putting letters inside.
'led' anagrammed gives 'lde'.
'cara' going around 'lde' is 'CALDERA'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for caldera that I've seen before include "Large volcanic crater -- lead car (anag)" , "Basin-shaped crater at top of volcano" , "Result of eruption" , "Big hole in rock" , "Large volcanic crater - race lad (anag)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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