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Exhausted provincial party supporting employment (4,2)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

used up

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'exhausted' is the definition.
('use up' can be a synonym of 'exhaust')

'provincial party supporting employment' is the wordplay.
'provincial party' becomes 'dup' (Democratic Unionist Party. I am not sure about the 'provincial' bit.).
'supporting' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (in a down clue, some letters go below others).
'employment' becomes 'use' (synonyms).
'dup' after 'use' is 'USED-UP'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for used up that I've seen before include "Consumed completely" , "Consumed, finished" , "Spent" , "Exhausted the supply" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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