Crossword Genius

Home clue for state is offensive (2,3,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

in bad taste

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

'offensive' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'home clue for state' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'home' could be 'in' ('he's home' can mean 'he's in') and 'in' is located in the answer.
an anagram of 'state' is 'taste' which is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'bad' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'is' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for in bad taste that I've seen is " Unpleasant".)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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