Crossword Genius

Acerbic couple of kings in state (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sarky

'acerbic' is the definition.
(short for sarcastic)

'couple of kings in state' is the wordplay.
'couple of kings in' becomes 'sar' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'state' becomes 'KY' (US abbreviation for Kentucky).
'sar'+'ky'='SARKY'

(Another definition for sarky that I've seen is " Mocking".)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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