Crossword Genius

Backing war-torn country losing leader is delicate (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

airy

'delicate' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'backing war-torn country losing leader' is the wordplay.
'backing' says the letters should be written backwards.
'war-torn country' becomes 'Syria' (Syrian Civil War).
'losing leader' means to remove the first letter.
'syria' with its initial letter taken away is 'yria'.
'yria' back-to-front is 'AIRY'.

'is' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for airy that I've seen before include "'Up the . . . . mountain / Down the rushy glen' (William Allingham)" , "Light, delicate" , "Spacious - aerial" , "open to the sky" , "(Of ideas) speculative" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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