Crossword Genius

Balloon blown, as spinning left (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

snowball

'balloon' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'blown as spinning left' is the wordplay.
'spinning' indicates anagramming the letters.
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation).
'blown'+'as'='blownas'
'blownas' with letters rearranged gives 'snowbal'.
'snowbal'+'l'='SNOWBALL'

(Other definitions for snowball that I've seen before include "Cocktail; grow rapidly" , "Missile thrown by children in hard winter" , "Cold sphere" , "Mushroom" , "Cocktail made from lemonade and advocaat" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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