Crossword Genius

American finishes major public search on foot (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

arch

'on foot' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'american finishes major public search' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'finishes' suggests the final letters (I've seen 'finish of' mean this).
The final letters of 'major public search' are 'rch'.
'a'+'rch'='ARCH'

(Other definitions for arch that I've seen before include "Masonry structure for spanning an opening" , "Curved entrance" , "Curved aperture" , "Curved span" , "Shrewd; bridge" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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