Crossword Genius

Sweet area within Middle East mount (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

caramel

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'sweet' is the definition.
(caramel is a kind of sweet)

'area within middle east mount' is the wordplay.
'area' becomes 'car' (car is a kind of area).
'within middle east' becomes 'lema' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'mount' shows that the letters should be reversed in order (I've seen 'mounting' mean this (going up in a down clue)).
'lema' written backwards gives 'amel'.
'car'+'amel'='CARAMEL'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for caramel that I've seen before include "Sugar solution heated till brown" , "Cooked sugar" , "It's produced by heating sugar until brown" , "Soft sweet" , "Burnt sugar used for flavouring" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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