Crossword Genius

Land in contact with water - this, after storm, mostly a pulpy mess (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

isthmus

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

'land' is the definition.
(isthmus is a kind of land)

'contact with water this after storm mostly a pulpy mess' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'this' is 'isth' which is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'mus' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for isthmus that I've seen before include "Narrow stretch of land joining two larger masses" , "Narrow strip of land connecting two larger areas" , "Narrow strip joining larger areas of land" , "Narrow strip of land connecting two larger land masses" , "This sum (anag)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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