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A material thing in a u-boat position (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

substance

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'a material thing' is the definition.
'substance' can be an answer for 'thing' (thesaurus). I am unsure of the 'a material' bit.

'u-boat position' is the wordplay.
'u-boat' becomes 'sub' (German submarine).
'position' becomes 'stance' (stance is a kind of position).
'sub'+'stance'='SUBSTANCE'

'in a' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for substance that I've seen before include "Basic matter" , "power" , "Physical material" , "Matter or material that a thing is made of" , "wealth" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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