Crossword Genius

Completely consumes American and 7 drink (4,2)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

uses up

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

'completely consumes' is the definition.
'uses up' can be an answer for 'consumes' ('use up' can be a synonym of 'consume'). I'm not sure about the 'completely' bit.

'american and 7 drink' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'us'.
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'7' becomes 'e' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'drink' becomes 'sup' (I've seen this before).
'us'+'e'+'sup'='USES UP'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for uses up that I've seen before include "'Depletes (4,2)'" , "Exhausts" , "Consumes" , "drains" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.