Chap with key â a renowned African leader (7)
I believe the answer is:
mandela
'leader' is the definition.
(I know that Mandela is a nationalist leader)
'chap with key a a' is the wordplay.
'chap' becomes 'man' (chap can mean a man).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'key' becomes 'del' (del key on a keyboard).
'man'+'del'+'a'='MANDELA'
'renowned african' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mandela that I've seen before include "South African president, 1994-99" , "Nelson --, South African politician" , "Former president of South Africa" , "Could be Nelson" , "Nelson lengthily detained" .)