Crossword Genius

Bit of a state (4,2,3,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

coin of the realm

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

'bit of a' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'state' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'state' could be 'realm' (realm is a kind of state) and 'realm' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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