Crossword Genius

Army branch beer, say, is US property (4,6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

real estate

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'us property' is the definition.
'real estate' can be an answer for 'property' (real estate is a kind of property). I'm unsure of the 'us' bit.

'army branch beer say' is the wordplay.
'army' becomes 'RE' (Royal Engineers regiment).
'branch beer' becomes 'ale' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'say' becomes 'state' (synonyms).
're'+'ale'+'state'='REAL ESTATE'

'is' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for real estate that I've seen before include "land in New England" , "properties" , "Property, land (esp. US)" , "Land (mainly US)" , "Landed property" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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