Crossword Genius

Count made by Church of England over North and South America (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

census

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

'count' is the definition.
(I know that census is a type of count)

'church of england over north and south america' is the wordplay.
'church of england' becomes 'CE' (abbreviation).
'over north' becomes 'n' (abbreviation. I am not sure about the 'over' bit.).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'south' becomes 's' (abbreviation).
'america' becomes 'US' (United States).
'ce'+'n'+'s'+'us'='CENSUS'

'made by' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for census that I've seen before include "Head-count" , "Official survey" , "Periodic count by statisticians" , "Periodical population count" , "Population survey" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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