Crossword Genius

Has a meal with banks of eagle scouts (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

eats

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

'has a meal' is the definition.
'eats' can be an answer for 'has' (eating is a kind of having). I'm unsure of the 'a meal' bit.

'banks of eagle scouts' is the wordplay.
'banks of' means to remove the middle letters (the banks are the sides of the word).
'eagle' becomes 'europeansea' (European sea eagle is an example).
'scouts' becomes 'ts' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'europeansea' with its middle removed is 'ea'.
'ea'+'ts'='EATS'

'with' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for eats that I've seen before include "Comestibles" , "Food (slang)" , "Chews" , "Consumes with teas" , "Commonly, they eliminate" .)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times.
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