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Passage of terminal illness stateside (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sinus

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'passage' is the definition.
(I know that sinus is a type of passage)

'terminal illness stateside' is the wordplay.
'terminal illness' becomes 'sin' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'stateside' becomes 'US' (short for United States).
'sin'+'us'='SINUS'

'of' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sinus that I've seen before include "chamber" , "Cavity in the facial bones" , "Head space" , "Channel between brain and skull" , "snotty enclosure" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.
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