Crossword Genius

China captured revolutionary weapon (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

machete

'weapon' is the definition.
(machete is a kind of weapon)

'china captured revolutionary' is the wordplay.
'china' becomes 'mate' ('China plate' is rhyming slang for 'mate').
'captured' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'revolutionary' becomes 'che' (Che Guevara the Marxist revolutionary).
'mate' enclosing 'che' is 'MACHETE'.

(Other definitions for machete that I've seen before include "The mace (anag.)" , "Heavy knife used as weapon" , "cutter" , "Jungle blade" , "Broad heavy knife used in S America" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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