Crossword Genius

Precious stones beneath rock layers in plots (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

stratagems

'plots' is the definition.

'precious stones beneath rock layers' is the wordplay.
'precious stones' becomes 'gems' (gem is a kind of precious stone).
'beneath' means one lot of letters go next to another (in a down clue).
'rock layers' becomes 'strata' (I've seen this before).
'gems' after 'strata' is 'STRATAGEMS'.

'in' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for stratagems that I've seen before include "Plans" , "Manoeuvres" .)

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