Crossword Genius

A county, and not its people (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

norfolk

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

'a county' is the definition.
(English county)

'and not its people' is the wordplay.
'and' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation for 'and').
'not' becomes 'o' (I've seen this in other clues).
'its' becomes 'r' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'people' becomes 'folk' (informal term for people).
'n'+'o'+'r'+'folk'='NORFOLK'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for norfolk that I've seen before include "Agricultural county; type of jacket" , "It has much farmland" , "County of Norwich and Sandringham" , "Very flat county" , "Part of East Anglia" .)

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