Crossword Genius

Drama over - avoid having to leave North Island (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

honshu

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'island' is the definition.
(Honshu is an example)

'drama over avoid' is the wordplay.
'drama' becomes 'noh' (Japanese drama).
'over' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'avoid' becomes 'shu' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'noh' back-to-front is 'hon'.
'hon'+'shu'='HONSHU'

'having to leave north' 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 honshu that I've seen before include "Largest island of Japan's mainland" , "Main Japanese island" , "Island regarded as the Japanese mainland" , "Largest of the Japanese islands" , "The main island of Japan" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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