Masterly officer helping to make beer (4)
I believe the answer is:
malt
'make beer' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both things that one consumes for nourishment as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'masterly officer helping' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'officer' could be 'lt' (abbreviation for lieutenant) and 'lt' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ma' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for malt that I've seen before include "Brewing material" , "Kind of Scotch whisky" , "Pure whisky" , "Dried grain used for brewing and distilling" , "Germinated and kiln-dried grain used in brewing and distilling" .)