Crossword Genius

Wilderness of chopped up dead trees (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

desert

'wilderness' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'chopped up dead trees' is the wordplay.
'chopped up' indicates an anagram.
'dead' becomes 'd'.
'd'+'trees'='dtrees'
'dtrees' is an anagram of 'DESERT'.

'of' is the link.

(Other definitions for desert that I've seen before include "Waterless area of land" , "Kalahari, e.g." , "Barren area" , "expanse of land without water" , "Abandon in wasteland" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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