Crossword Genius

Powerless South American island quietly coming up (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

incapable

'powerless' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'south american island quietly coming up' is the wordplay.
'south american' becomes 'inca' (the Inca were a South American civilization).
'island' becomes 'elba' (Italian island).
'quietly' becomes 'p' (p for piano and quiet).
'coming up' shows that the letters should be reversed in order (in a down clue, letters go up).
'elba'+'p'='elbap'
'elbap' reversed gives 'pable'.
'inca'+'pable'='INCAPABLE'

(Other definitions for incapable that I've seen before include "hopeless" , "Unable, incompetent" , "lacking ability" , "Useless" , "See possibly drunken" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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