Crossword Genius

Sign of America stopping tips shortly (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

auspice

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'sign' is the definition.
(I know that auspice is a type of omen)

'america stopping tips shortly' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'america' could be 'us' (United States) and 'us' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'of' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for auspice that I've seen before include "future promise" , "Omen; epic USA (anag.)" , "Portent" , "Omen (archaic)" , "Omen - I use cap (anag)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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