Crossword Genius

Colonies rash to support US cooperative gathering (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

beehives

'colonies' is the definition.

'rash to support us cooperative gathering' is the wordplay.
'rash' becomes 'hives' (hives is a kind of rash).
'to support' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (in a down clue, some letters hold others up).
'us cooperative gathering' becomes 'bee' (type of meeting for similar work eg a sewing bee).
'hives' put after 'bee' is 'BEEHIVES'.

(Other definitions for beehives that I've seen before include "An apiarist cares for them" , "Habitations for hymenoptera" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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