Crossword Genius

Lifts helium a short distance at sea (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

hefts

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

'lifts' is the definition.
(hefting is a kind of lifting)

'helium a short distance at sea' is the wordplay.
'a short' says to take the initial letters.
'distance at sea' becomes 'efts' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The initial letter of 'helium' is 'h'.
'h'+'efts'='HEFTS'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for hefts that I've seen is " Lifts heavily".)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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