Crossword Genius

Rowing crew fed noisily (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

eight

'rowing crew' is the definition.
(crew of eight rowers)

'fed noisily' is the wordplay.
'fed' becomes 'ate' ('eat' can be a synonym of 'feed').
'noisily' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'ate' is a homophone of 'EIGHT'.

(Other definitions for eight that I've seen before include "4 x 2" , "What's next?" , "Number (of oarsmen?)" , "Set of rowers" , "destroyed [IN 8A] here!" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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