Crossword Genius

Almost all the booze knocked back in darkness (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

night

'darkness' is the definition.
(night is a kind of darkness)

'almost all the booze knocked back' is the wordplay.
'almost all' means to remove the last letter.
'booze' becomes 'gin' (gin is a kind of booze).
'knocked back' says the letters should be written backwards.
'the' with its last letter removed is 'th'.
'th'+'gin'='thgin'
'thgin' back-to-front is 'NIGHT'.

'in' is the link.

(Other definitions for night that I've seen before include "Illumination needed now" , "''Twas the ... before Christmas, when all through the house / Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse''" , "'Red sky at . . . . ., shepherd's delight'" , "Time between days" , "Time for turning" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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