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Sailing adrift, setter leaves message (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

signal

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

I cannot understand how the rest of the clue works.

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(Other definitions for signal that I've seen before include "Gesture; notable" , "Message in the form of a gesture" , "beacon" , "Noteworthy" , "Non-verbal action with an encoded message" .)

I've seen this clue in The Hindu.
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