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English friend entering province of Asian country (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

nepali

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'asian country' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.

'english friend entering province' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'friend' becomes 'pal' (pal is a kind of friend**).
'entering' indicates putting letters inside.
'province' becomes 'ni' (I've seen this in other clues).
'e'+'pal'='epal'
'epal' going inside 'ni' is 'NEPALI'.

'of' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for nepali that I've seen before include "Foreigner" , "One from Katmandu" , "Native of one Himalayan state" , "Native of a mountainous Hindu kingdom" , "Mountain-dweller" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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