Crossword Genius

Vessel robot crashed in trench (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

motorboat

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

'robot crashed in trench' is the wordplay.
'crashed' is an anagram indicator.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'trench' becomes 'moat' (moat is a kind of trench).
'robot' with letters rearranged gives 'torbo'.
'torbo' going into 'moat' is 'MOTORBOAT'.

(Another definition for motorboat that I've seen is " powered vessel".)

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