Crossword Genius

Lobby animal shelter to accept millions - it symbolises quality (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

hallmark

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'quality' is the definition.
(hallmark is a kind of quality)

'lobby animal shelter to accept millions' is the wordplay.
'lobby' becomes 'hall' (synonyms).
'animal shelter' becomes 'ark' (ship which shelters animals in the Bible).
'to accept' is an insertion indicator.
'millions' becomes 'm' (abbreviation for millions).
'hall'+'ark'='hallark'
'hallark' going around 'm' is 'HALLMARK'.

'it symbolises' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for hallmark that I've seen before include "Distinctive feature" , "Genuine impression" , "It indicates the standard of precious metals" , "Metal assay sign" , "Standard sign for silver" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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