Crossword Genius

Man perhaps follows American females into battle (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

affray

'battle' is the definition.
(I know that affray is a type of combat)

'man perhaps follows american females' is the wordplay.
'man perhaps' becomes 'Ray' (Man Ray was a 20th-century artist).
'follows' says to put letters next to each other.
'american' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'females' becomes 'ff' (the abbreviation for female repeated).
'a'+'ff'='aff'
'ray' after 'aff' is 'AFFRAY'.

'into' is the link.

(Other definitions for affray that I've seen before include "Noisy quarrel" , "Fish; had an odour" , "A fight or riot in public" , "Fracas, noisy fight" , "Disturbance of the peace" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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