Crossword Genius

Passage from revolutionary essayist about Society (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

aisle

'passage' is the definition.
(aisle is a kind of passage)

'revolutionary essayist about society' is the wordplay.
'revolutionary' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'essayist' becomes 'elia' (pseudonym of Charles Lamb).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'society' becomes 's' (common abbreviation in names of organisations).
'elia' placed around 's' is 'elsia'.
'elsia' in reverse letter order is 'AISLE'.

'from' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for aisle that I've seen before include "Divide in a church" , "Passage between seating blocks" , "Path between seats in church" , "way for prospective union members?" , "Corridor" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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