Crossword Genius

Country tune backing American gets into at first (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

austria

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'country' is the definition.
(Austria is an example)

'tune backing american gets into at first' is the wordplay.
'tune backing' becomes 'ria' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'american' becomes 'us'.
'gets into' is an insertion indicator.
'first' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'us' inserted inside 'at' is 'aust'.
'ria' put after 'aust' is 'AUSTRIA'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for austria that I've seen before include "EU country" , "Capital city is Vienna" , "part of Europe" , "Mountainous European state" , "Mountainous European republic" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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