Crossword Genius

Food colouring company feature retails regularly (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cochineal

'food colouring' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'company feature retails regularly' is the wordplay.
'company' becomes 'co' (abbreviation).
'feature' becomes 'chin' (chin is a kind of feature).
'regularly' indicates alternate letters (regularly take one letter, leave next etc.).
The alternate letters of 'retails' are 'eal'.
'co'+'chin'+'eal'='COCHINEAL'

(Other definitions for cochineal that I've seen before include "Red food dye (from beetles)" , "Red food colouring" , "Red colour" , "Scarlet dye - in a cloche (anag)" , "Crimson dye from crushed insects" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app