Crossword Genius

Top class part with hot centre providing ventilation (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

airhole

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

'ventilation' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'top class part with hot centre' is the wordplay.
'top class' becomes 'AI' (resembles Ah, old-fashioned term meaning excellent).
'part' becomes 're' (re is a kind of part).
'with' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'hot centre' becomes 'hol' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
're' placed around 'hol' is 'rhole'.
'ai'+'rhole'='AIRHOLE'

'providing' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for airhole that I've seen before include "may avoid suffocation" , "breather?" , "vent" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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