Crossword Genius

Deafening activity in cornmill? (3-9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ear-splitting

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

'deafening' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'activity in cornmill?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'in' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for ear-splitting that I've seen before include "Very loud and shrill" , "Extremely loud" , "Excessively loud" , "Painfully loud" , "Deafeningly loud" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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