Sailors genuinely take in directions, obscurely (10)

I believe the answer is:

abstrusely

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'obscurely' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adverbs. Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?

'sailors genuinely take in directions' is the wordplay.
'sailors' becomes 'abs' (AB is short for able seaman).
'genuinely' becomes 'truly' (I've seen this in another clue).
'take' indicates putting letters inside.
'in directions' becomes 'se' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'truly' placed around 'se' is 'trusely'.
'abs'+'trusely'='ABSTRUSELY'

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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