US state with mines mostly worked out? (6)
I believe the answer is:
oregon
'us state' is the definition.
(Oregon is a state of the USA)
'with mines mostly worked out?' is the wordplay.
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'mines mostly' becomes 'ore' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'worked' becomes 'gone' ('go' can be a synonym of 'work').
'out?' means to remove the last letter (I've seen 'out' mean this).
'gone' with its last letter taken away is 'gon'.
'ore' next to 'gon' is 'OREGON'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for oregon that I've seen before include "W. coast US state" , "US state, capital Salem" , "Pacific coast US state" , "US state, capital Portland" , "America's Beaver State" .)