Crossword Genius

Practical information announced, underwear in piles (5,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

brass tacks

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

'practical information' is the definition.
'brass tacks' can be an answer for 'information' (thesaurus). I'm unsure of the 'practical' bit.

'announced underwear in piles' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'underwear' could be 'bras' and 'bras' is located in the answer.
'piles' could be 'stacks' (pile can mean a stack of something) and 'stacks' is located in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for brass tacks that I've seen before include "Nitty-gritty (got down to)" , "Details of practical business (colloq.)" , "Basic realities (informal)" , "Real business" , "Hard facts" .)

I've seen this clue in The Everyman puzzle in The Observer.
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