Crossword Genius

Endless report of revolution in east Alabama (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

eternal

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'endless' is the definition.
(I know that endless can be written as eternal)

'report of revolution in east alabama' is the wordplay.
'report of revolution' becomes 'tern' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'east' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'alabama' becomes 'al' (abbreviation).
'e'+'al'='eal'
'tern' inserted within 'eal' is 'ETERNAL'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for eternal that I've seen before include "Never failing" , "Seemingly without end" , "carrying on endlessly" , "Such a city is Rome" , "Forever and always" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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