Crossword Genius

Start of flood eventually surrounding old hollow willow (3,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

low water

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

'start of flood' is the definition.
'low water' can be an answer for 'flood' (thesaurus). I'm not certain of the 'start of' bit.

'eventually surrounding old hollow willow' is the wordplay.
'eventually' becomes 'later' (I've seen this in another clue).
'surrounding' is an insertion indicator.
'old' becomes 'o' (abbreviation).
'hollow' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (the word is hollowed out).
'willow' with its centre removed is 'ww'.
'o'+'ww'='oww'
'later' placed around 'oww' is 'LOW WATER'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for low water that I've seen before include "Minimum tide level" , "Furthest fall of tide" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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.
1
Connecting...