Crossword Genius

Gruffudd drinking whiskey from Des Moines? (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

iowan

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'from des moines?' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'gruffudd drinking whiskey' is the wordplay.
'gruffudd' becomes 'ioan' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'drinking' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters are consumed or drunk).
'whiskey' becomes 'W' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'ioan' going around 'w' is 'IOWAN'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for iowan that I've seen before include "US resident" , "Midwesterner" , "From a US state, capital Des Moines" , "Someone from the Midwest - a wino? (anag)" , "American" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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