Crossword Genius

People eating very tiny thing (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

meson

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

'tiny thing' is the definition.
'meson' can be an answer for 'thing' (I have seen 'Elementary thing' mean 'meson' so perhaps 'thing' could also mean 'meson'). I'm not certain of the 'tiny' bit.

'people eating very' is the wordplay.
'people' becomes 'men' (men are people).
'eating' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'very' becomes 'so' (both can mean 'extremely').
'men' going around 'so' is 'MESON'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for meson that I've seen before include "Elementary thing" , "small particle" , "tiny particle" , "Something small" , "Quark/antiquark particle" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app