US public servants observed alien eating some people (5,10)
I believe the answer is:
state department
'us public' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both groups as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'servants observed alien eating some people' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'servants' could be 'men' (man can mean a personal servant) and 'men' is found in the answer.
'some' could be 'part' (only part of something) and 'part' is present in the answer.
'alien' could be 'et' (extraterrestrial) and 'et' is found in the remaining letters.
'people' could be 'state' (as in the people of a nation) and 'state' is found within the answer.
A single letter 'd' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for state department that I've seen before include "American diplomats" , "Washington office" , "government agency abroad" , "US Foreign Office" , "US officials" .)