Crossword Genius

Property broker to say how old they are when admitted to hospital department (6,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

estate agent

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

'property broker' is the definition.
'estate agent' can be an answer for 'broker' (estate agent is a kind of broker). I am not certain of the 'property' bit.

'say how old they are when admitted to hospital department' is the wordplay.
'say' becomes 'eg' (both can mean 'for example').
'how old they' becomes 'state' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'are' becomes 'a' (short for 'are', historical unit of measurement).
'when admitted' indicates putting letters inside.
'to hospital department' becomes 'ENT' (Ear, Nose and Throat department).
'state'+'a'='statea'
'eg' placed around 'statea' is 'estateag'.
'estateag'+'ent'='ESTATE AGENT'

'to' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for estate agent that I've seen before include "Person supposed to facilitate house sales" , "One selling houses" , "House seller" , "Property seller" , "Someone who arranges the buying and selling of property for clients" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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