Crossword Genius

Kind of government catered to real problems (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

federal

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

'kind of government' is the definition.

'catered to real problems' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'catered' could be 'fed' (feeding is a kind of catering) and 'fed' is located in the answer.
an anagram of 'real' is 'eral' which is within the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for federal that I've seen before include "describing Stateside governance" , "(Of a union or government) involving states voluntarily joined together for common purposes" , "Of the state" , "Of central government, not its separate states" , "The F in FBI" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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