Crossword Genius

Retweet sending up graduate in Illinois is reflective of group loyalty (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tribal

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

'reflective of group loyalty' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'retweet sending up graduate in illinois' is the wordplay.
'retweet' becomes 'rt' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'sending up' says the letters should be written backwards.
'graduate' becomes 'BA' (someone with a Bachelor of Arts degree).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'illinois' becomes 'il' (I've seen this in other clues).
'rt' in reverse letter order is 'tr'.
'ba' inserted into 'il' is 'ibal'.
'tr'+'ibal'='TRIBAL'

'is' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for tribal that I've seen before include "Relating to a social group" , "Like many primitive societies" , "concerning clan" , "Clannish" , "To do with racial groups, especially in primitive cultures" .)

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