African river longer than an English one (5)
I believe the answer is:
zaire
'an english one' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both quantities as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'african river longer' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'river' could be 'aire' (River Aire in Yorkshire) and 'aire' is found within the answer.
A single letter 'z' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'than' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for zaire that I've seen before include "Country, formerly" , "Old name for African republic" , "Former African country name" , "Former African republic" , "Democratic Republic of Congo's former name" .)