Crossword Genius

Economies with meat? (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cuts

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

'economies with meat?' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'economies with meat?' is the wordplay.
'economies' becomes 's' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'meat?' becomes 'cut' (cut is a kind of meat).
's' after 'cut' is 'CUTS'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for cuts that I've seen before include "Axes" , "Snubs" , "Retrenchment" , "Incisions" , "Tears" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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