Crossword Genius

Worries when American soldiers surrounding gallery (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

agitates

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'worries' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with contact as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'american soldiers surrounding gallery' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'soldiers' becomes 'GIs' (GI is an informal term for a US soldier).
'surrounding' is an insertion indicator.
'gallery' becomes 'tate' (Tate Modern, Tate Britain etc).
'gis' placed around 'tate' is 'gitates'.
'a'+'gitates'='AGITATES'

'when' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for agitates that I've seen before include "Disturbs or stirs up political trouble" , "Disturbs, often politically" , "Tries to stir up public opinion" , "Upsets" .)

I've seen this clue in The Everyman puzzle in The Observer.
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