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More heated battle over Homeric heartland (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

warmer

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

'more heated' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are comparative adjectives. Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?

'battle over homeric heartland' is the wordplay.
'battle' becomes 'war' (I've seen this in other clues).
'over homeric heartland' becomes 'mer' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'war'+'mer'='WARMER'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for warmer that I've seen before include "Having a higher temperature" , "Containing more heat" , "Closer to target" , "Less cold" , "Less cool" .)

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