Mideast federation since 1971, in brief

As a detective working to solve the crossword clue “Mideast federation since 1971, in brief,” I first focused on the fact that it referred to a country or territory in the Middle East that had formed a federation in 1971. I then thought of the popular countries that made up the Middle East such as Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. However, none of these countries involved the particular event being described in the clue.

Next, I looked for other clues within the crossword to see if there were any connecting solutions or answers. As I thought about the letters that could be aligned with the given definition, I realized that “UAE” (United Arab Emirates) could be a possible solution. UAE is located in the Middle East and it became a federation on December 2nd, 1971. This fit perfectly with the description provided by the crossword clue.

In addition, I also considered other popular words that could fit the given letters of the word in the crossword. However, the overarching description provided by the crossword strongly pointed to the understanding that it was referring to a country in the Middle East. With this insight in mind, I was able to confidently conclude that the answer to the crossword clue was “UAE.”