Crossword Genius

Country girl one spies in Spanish region (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

galicia

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

'country' is the definition.
(I know that Galicia is a country)

'girl one spies in spanish region' is the wordplay.
'girl' becomes 'gal'.
'one' becomes 'i' (Roman numeral).
'spies in spanish region' becomes 'cia' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'gal'+'i'+'cia'='GALICIA'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for galicia that I've seen before include "part of Spain" , "Autonomous region of Spain" , "North-western region of Spain" , "Region of NW Spain" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.
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