Crossword Genius

Asian behind housing problem, ultimately (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tamil

'asian' is the definition.
(Tamil is an example)

'behind housing problem ultimately' is the wordplay.
'behind' becomes 'tail' ('tail' can be a synonym of 'behind'**).
'housing' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'ultimately' says to take the final letters.
The last letter of 'problem' is 'm'.
'tail' enclosing 'm' is 'TAMIL'.

(Other definitions for tamil that I've seen before include "Sri Lankan" , "Language of southern India and Sri Lanka" , "Asian language" , "Perhaps Indian" , "Member of South Indian people" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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