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Sentence: "Chinese invading West?” - something seen in SF story? (4,7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

time machine

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'story?' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?

'sentence chinese invading west? something seen in sf' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'sentence' could be 'time' (a prison sentence) and 'time' is found in the answer.
'chinese' could be 'ch' (abbreviation) and 'ch' is located in the answer.
'in' is found in the answer.
'west?' could be 'mae' (actress Mae West) and 'mae' is present in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for time machine that I've seen before include "Eg, Doctor Who's Tardis" , "Might this take you back?" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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