Crossword Genius

Touch of tumultuous flatus engulfs knight and earl combined (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

twinned

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'earl combined' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'touch of tumultuous flatus engulfs knight' is the wordplay.
'touch of' indicates taking the first letters.
'flatus' becomes 'wind' (synonyms).
'engulfs' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'knight' becomes 'ne' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The initial letter of 'tumultuous' is 't'.
'wind' placed around 'ne' is 'winned'.
't'+'winned'='TWINNED'

'and' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for twinned that I've seen before include "Coupled together" , "Some towns are" , "Enjoying a link" , "(Town) linked with one abroad" , "Similarly connected" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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