A little hairy spider brought about a state of turmoil (5)
I believe the answer is:
syria
'a state of turmoil' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot understand how one could define the other.
'a little hairy spider brought about' is the wordplay.
'a little' indicates a hidden word.
'brought about' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'airys' is hidden in the letters of 'hairy spider'.
'airys' in reverse letter order is 'SYRIA'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for syria that I've seen before include "Country bordering?Lebanon" , "Middle-East Republic" , "St Paul's conversion happened on the road to its capital" , "West Asian Republic" , "Near eastern country" .)