Crossword Genius

Planet inhabited by minute alien creature (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

marmoset

'creature' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'planet inhabited by minute alien' is the wordplay.
'planet' becomes 'mars' (Mars is a planet).
'inhabited by' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'minute' becomes 'mo' (both can mean a short amount of time).
'alien' becomes 'et' (extraterrestrial).
'mars' placed around 'mo' is 'marmos'.
'marmos'+'et'='MARMOSET'

(Other definitions for marmoset that I've seen before include "Small tropical American monkey" , "Monkey with claws" , "Small New World monkey" , "Somme rat? (anag)" , "Star memo about kind of monkey" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sunday Times and The Times.
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