Crossword Genius

Stand a rough sea and a bit of a swell (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

easel

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

'stand' is the definition.
(stand for an artist's canvas)

'a rough sea and a bit of a swell' is the wordplay.
'a rough' indicates an anagram (a rough or broken ordering of the letters).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'a bit of a swell' becomes 'el' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'sea' with letters rearranged gives 'eas'.
'eas'+'el'='EASEL'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for easel that I've seen before include "Painter's tripod" , "Artist's canvas suppot" , "Lease it out to the artist" , "Painting support" , "Blackboard-frame" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.