Crossword Genius

Neighbours consume spirit with the foreign beef (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

grumble

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

'beef' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'neighbours consume spirit with the foreign' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'spirit' could be 'rum' (I've seen this before) and 'rum' is located in the answer.
'the foreign' could be 'le' and 'le' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for grumble that I've seen before include "Murmur with discontent" , "Complain, protest" , "bitch" , "Express dissatisfaction" , "Grievance" .)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times and the Irish Times (Crosaire).
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