Crossword Genius

Sinister order in America enlisting Oscar (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ominous

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

'sinister' is the definition.
(I know that sinister can be written as ominous)

'order in america enlisting oscar' is the wordplay.
'order' becomes 'o' (abbreviation e.g. in British honours OM, OBE etc.).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'america enlisting' becomes 'minus' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'oscar' becomes 'O' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'minus' going around 'o' is 'minous'.
'o'+'minous'='OMINOUS'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for ominous that I've seen before include "Looking like trouble coming" , "Portending bad things" , "Minatory, trouble coming" , "Threatening, not looking good" , "Boding ill" .)

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