Whitish spread to spread over American plates? (9)
I believe the answer is:
marmoreal
'whitish spread' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'spread over american plates?' is the wordplay.
'spread' becomes 'meal' (a spread of food).
'over' is an insertion indicator.
'american plates?' becomes 'armor' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'meal' placed around 'armor' is 'MARMOREAL'.
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for marmoreal that I've seen before include "of fine stone" , "stony cold" , "made of stone" .)