Judge leads foxhunt regularly, state protection? (6)
I believe the answer is:
johnny
'protection?' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot understand how they can define each other.
'judge leads foxhunt regularly state' is the wordplay.
'leads' suggests taking the first letters.
'regularly' indicates alternate letters (regularly take one letter, leave next etc.).
'state' becomes 'ny' (abbreviation for New York the US state).
The initial letter of 'judge' is 'j'.
The alternate letters of 'foxhunt' are 'ohn'.
'j'+'ohn'+'ny'='JOHNNY'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for johnny that I've seen before include "New arrival" , "- - Depp, actor" , "Man (informal); man's name" .)