Crossword Genius

Explorer's vacant homeland in poetry (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

erin

'poetry' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are singular nouns.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?

'explorer's vacant homeland' is the wordplay.
'vacant' means to remove the middle letters.
'homeland' becomes 'in' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'explorer' with its middle taken out is 'er'.
'er'+'in'='ERIN'

'in' is the link.

(Other definitions for erin that I've seen before include "Poetically, Ireland" , "Another name for 11 ac" , "Old Ireland" , "Let ... Remember (song)" , "The Emerald Isle, in poetry" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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