Crossword Genius

Eat in hotels, as in the country (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

heath

'the country' is the definition.
(I have seen 'Open country ' mean 'heath' so perhaps 'country' could also mean 'heath')

'eat in hotels' is the wordplay.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'hotels' becomes 'HH' (two H's - hotel is H in the NATO phonetic alphabet).
'eat' placed into 'hh' is 'HEATH'.

'as in' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for heath that I've seen before include "Open uncultivated land" , "PM 1970-74" , "Barren open land" , "Sir Edward - , PM" , "Tract of open land" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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