Crossword Genius

Barbarian stifles lake rescue (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

salvage

'rescue' is the definition.
(salvage is a kind of rescue)

'barbarian stifles lake' is the wordplay.
'barbarian' becomes 'savage' ('savage' can be a synonym of 'barbarian').
'stifles' indicates putting letters inside.
'lake' becomes 'l'.
'savage' placed around 'l' is 'SALVAGE'.

(Other definitions for salvage that I've seen before include "Manage to retain" , "Property that's rescued" , "Collect discarded material" , "Preserve" , "Recover (cargo from wreck)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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