State top academic can conduct research here with a postgrad? (7)
I believe the answer is:
alabama
'state' is the definition.
(I know that Alabama is a state)
'top academic can conduct research here with a postgrad?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'academic' could be 'ma' and 'ma' is found in the answer.
'a' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for alabama that I've seen before include "US state, capital Montgomery" , "Source of cotton" , "US state known as the Heart of Dixie" , "US state in the cotton belt" , "Southern American state" .)