surface

1. (figurative) Outward or external appearance.Examples: "On the surface, the spy looked like a typical businessman."; "Such characters as have nothing but external accompliſhments to recommend them, may indeed be greatly admired and approved by vain and weak underſtandings, which penetrate no deeper than the ſurface; but they are deſpiſed by all the truly ſenſible, and pitied by all the truly good."; "“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable,[…]."figuratively

2. (mathematics, geometry) The locus of an equation (especially one with exactly two degrees of freedom) in a space of more than two dimensions.

3. (crosswording) The story or image suggested by a cryptic clue, when read as a whole sentence without considering wordplay.Examples: "The surface is clearly about people like you and me, those whose better days are behind us and who now shop at M&S."; "If you are fooled by the surface you start thinking about internet browsers. But in this case it deviously refers to an animal that feeds by browsing, which is a longer standing use of the word."; "This clue with a booze-related surface uses “sandwich” wordplay, with an insertion of P from “priceless” into “lean to”, which the Oxford Dictionary of English lists as an alternative to “lean towards”, meaning the same as “incline to”."