Crossword Genius

Respected Costa Ricans abandoning island for resort (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sacrosanct

'respected' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'costa ricans abandoning island for resort' is the wordplay.
'abandoning' is a deletion indicator.
'island' becomes 'i' (geographical abbreviation).
'for resort' indicates an anagram.
'costa'+'ricans'='costaricans'
'costaricans' with 'i' removed is 'costarcans'.
'costarcans' anagrammed gives 'SACROSANCT'.

(Other definitions for sacrosanct that I've seen before include "Unchallengeable" , "Too valuable to touch" , "Too valuable to be changed" , "Co-stars can (anag.)" , "Too important to touch" .)

I've seen this clue in The Everyman puzzle in The Observer.
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