Crossword Genius

Masses of text describing conflict (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

swarms

'masses' is the definition.

'text describing conflict' is the wordplay.
'text' becomes 'SMS' (abbreviation for Short Message Service).
'describing' means one lot of letters goes inside another (describe can mean to form the outline of).
'conflict' becomes 'war' (war is a kind of conflict).
'sms' going around 'war' is 'SWARMS'.

'of' is the link.

(Other definitions for swarms that I've seen before include "Dense groups of flying insects" , "'Moving crowds, of bees say (6)'" , "Large groups of flying bees" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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