Crossword Genius

Church in Spain covered in material that’s black and red (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cochineal

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'red' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'church in spain covered in material' is the wordplay.
'church' becomes 'ch' (common abbreviation).
'spain' becomes 'e' (abbreviation for Espana).
'covered in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'material' becomes 'coal' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'ch'+'in'+'e'='chine'
'chine' put within 'coal' is 'COCHINEAL'.

'that's black and' is the link.
This may not be right. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for cochineal that I've seen before include "Red colour" , "Crimson dye from crushed insects" , "Red food colouring" , "Red food dye (from beetles)" , "Scarlet food dye" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app