Crossword Genius

Piercing middle of pearl, cracking it in two (12)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

earsplitting

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

'piercing' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'middle of pearl cracking it in two' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'it' could be 't' (abbreviation. e.g. in 'tis) and 't' is located in the answer.
'in' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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