Crossword Genius

Indigent, being reduced in rank? (3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

gen

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

'rank?' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how they can define each other.

'indigent being reduced' is the wordplay.
'indigent' becomes 'g' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'being' becomes 'ens' (I've seen this in other clues).
'reduced' means to remove the last letter.
'ens' with its last letter taken away is 'en'.
'g'+'en'='GEN'

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for gen that I've seen before include "'Information, colloquially (3)'" , "Info" , "Information yielded" , "Information (colloq.)" , "Knowledge" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.