Crossword Genius

Sponge in a dessert rising (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

loofa

'sponge' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'a dessert rising' is the wordplay.
'dessert' becomes 'fool' (type of dessert).
'rising' is a reversal indicator (in a down clue, letters go up).
'a'+'fool'='afool'
'afool' in reverse letter order is 'LOOFA'.

'in' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for loofa that I've seen before include "bathing accessory" , "Bathroom sponge" , "clean-up with this" , "American scrubber" , "Fruit used for a sponge" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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