Crossword Genius

Neither vessel at sea avoiding current, despite everything (12)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

nevertheless

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

'despite everything' is the definition.

'neither vessel at sea avoiding current' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'vessel' could be 'ss' and 'ss' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for nevertheless that I've seen before include "In spite of everything" , "anyhow" , "Still" , "Notwithstanding" , "However" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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