Can I spread round chicken Madras earlier? (7)
I believe the answer is:
chennai
'madras earlier?' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether this works.
'can i spread round chicken' is the wordplay.
'spread' indicates an anagram.
'round' is an insertion indicator.
'chicken' becomes 'hen' (hen is a kind of chicken).
'can'+'i'='cani'
'cani' is an anagram of 'cnai'.
'cnai' going around 'hen' is 'CHENNAI'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for chennai that I've seen before include "Current name for Madras" , "Indian city, formerly called Madras" , "Official name for Madras" , "Indian port" , "City previously called Madras" .)