European thrilled to upset the champion (5-6)
I believe the answer is:
title-holder
'champion' is the definition.
(I know that champion can be written as title-holder)
'european thrilled to upset' is the wordplay.
'european' becomes 'E' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'upset' is an anagram indicator.
'e'+'thrilled'+'to'='ethrilledto'
'ethrilledto' is an anagram of 'TITLE-HOLDER'.
'the' acts as a link.
I've seen this clue in The Times.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution?
Install my app