Crossword Genius

Vessel and wine, unopened, brought into sober meeting (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

aorta

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'vessel' is the definition.
(aorta is a kind of vessel)

'wine unopened brought into sober meeting' is the wordplay.
'wine' becomes 'port' (port is a kind of wine).
'unopened' means to remove the first letter.
'brought into' indicates putting letters inside.
'sober meeting' becomes 'aa' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'port' with its initial letter taken away is 'ort'.
'ort' placed inside 'aa' is 'AORTA'.

'and' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for aorta that I've seen before include "Large blood-vessel" , "main arterial route" , "Main route from the heart" , "vital transporter" , "it's drawing blood!" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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