America wants China inside NATO? (7)
I believe the answer is:
acronym
'nato?' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot understand how one could define the other.
'america wants china inside' is the wordplay.
'america' becomes 'am'.
'wants china' becomes 'crony' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'inside' is an insertion indicator.
'am' enclosing 'crony' is 'ACRONYM'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for acronym that I've seen before include "Tessa, say" , "radar, for one" , "Word such as radar, laser" , "UNESCO, say" , "Word like laser or Aids" .)