Crossword Genius

English charitable foundation endlessly preserves old Europeans (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

etruscans

'old europeans' is the definition.
(the Etruscans were an ancient civilisation)

'english charitable foundation endlessly preserves' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'charitable foundation' becomes 'trust'.
'endlessly' means to remove the last letter.
'preserves' becomes 'cans' (canning is a kind of preserving).
'trust' with its final letter taken away is 'trus'.
'e'+'trus'+'cans'='ETRUSCANS'

(Other definitions for etruscans that I've seen before include "Old Italians" , "Ancient Italians" , "old people in Italy" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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