Crossword Genius

Hoping to be American secret agents, say? (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

aspiring

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

'hoping' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'american secret agents say?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'american' could be 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names) and 'a' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'spiring' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'to be' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for aspiring that I've seen before include "Striving" , "Having a strong desire to achieve something" , "Strongly desiring to achieve" , "Hoping" , "Ambitious, hopeful" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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