Crossword Genius

Top heavy rowing team's stature (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

height

'stature' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'top heavy rowing team's' is the wordplay.
'top' suggests taking the first letters (in a down clue, the first letter is top).
'rowing team' becomes 'eight' (I've seen this before).
The initial letter of 'heavy' is 'h'.
'h'+'eight'='HEIGHT'

(Other definitions for height that I've seen before include "Vertical dimension" , "Peak" , "size up?" , "Dimension from top to bottom" , "Loftiness" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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