Crossword Genius

Tin item on chest supported by ship (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

brass

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'tin' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'item on chest supported by ship' is the wordplay.
'item on chest' becomes 'bra' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'supported by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (in a down clue, some letters hold up others).
'ship' becomes 'SS' (prefix in ship names eg SS Great Britain).
'bra'+'ss'='BRASS'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for brass that I've seen before include "Nerve (but not of steel!)" , "Metal - cheek" , "Yellowish alloy" , "Alloy of Cu and Zn" , "some musicians!" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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