Crossword Genius

Strange endless stories circulating in European Community (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

esoteric

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'strange' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?

'endless stories circulating in european community' is the wordplay.
'endless' means to remove the last letter.
'circulating' is an anagram indicator.
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'european community' becomes 'EC' (abbreviation).
'stories' with its last letter removed is 'storie'.
'storie' with letters rearranged gives 'soteri'.
'soteri' put into 'ec' is 'ESOTERIC'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for esoteric that I've seen before include "Secret, mysterious" , "Aimed at a few" , "Occult" , "Cryptic" , "unintelligible to outsiders" .)

Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app