Crossword Genius

Party line half swallowed by the doomed boat people? (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

gondoliers

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'boat people?' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being plural nouns.
I also know that 'boat' relates to this answer.

'party line half swallowed by the doomed' is the wordplay.
'party' becomes 'do' (do can informally mean a party).
'half' means to take half the letters.
'swallowed by' is an insertion indicator.
'the doomed' becomes 'goners' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'line' with half the letters taken is 'li'.
'do'+'li'='doli'
'doli' placed within 'goners' is 'GONDOLIERS'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for gondoliers that I've seen before include "Venice boatmen" , "Operatic boatmen?" , "Craftsmen" , "G & S' alternative for "The King of Barataria"" , "Venetian boatmen" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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