Crossword Genius

Alpha Force cook embracing a public brawl (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

affray

'public brawl' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'alpha force cook embracing a' is the wordplay.
'alpha' becomes 'a' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'force' becomes 'f' (symbol used in Physics e.g. f=ma).
'cook' becomes 'fry cook' (fry cook is a kind of cook).
'embracing' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'fry' enclosing 'a' is 'fray'.
'a'+'f'+'fray'='AFFRAY'

(Other definitions for affray that I've seen before include "Noisy quarrel" , "Brawling" , "Disturbance in public place" , "Breach of peace through public fighting" , "Breach of the peace by public rioting" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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