Country ways (5)

I believe the answer is:

lanes

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'country ways' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'country ways' is the wordplay.
'country' becomes 'lan' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'ways' becomes 'es' (east and south - two directions).
'lan'+'es'='LANES'

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(Other definitions for lanes that I've seen before include "Narrow roads or road divisions" , "Country roads" , "Tracks for traffic" , "Leans into narrow roads" , "Narrow tracks or paths" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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