Crossword Genius

Essentially queasy about toxic compound and strange objects (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

exotica

'strange objects' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'essentially queasy about toxic compound' is the wordplay.
'essentially' indicates the central letters.
'about' indicates putting letters inside.
'compound' indicates anagramming the letters.
The middle of 'queasy' is 'ea'.
'toxic' is an anagram of 'xotic'.
'ea' placed around 'xotic' is 'EXOTICA'.

'and' is the link.

(Other definitions for exotica that I've seen before include "Articles from abroad" , "Strange or rare objects, often in collection" , "Strange or rare objects, often collected" , "Strange foreign objects" , "Unusual foreign objects" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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