Crossword Genius

Fake map including US city and area north (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

charlatan

'fake' is the definition.
(both can mean a fraudulent person)

'map including us city and area north' is the wordplay.
'map' becomes 'chart' (chart is a kind of map).
'including' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'us city' becomes 'LA'.
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'area north' becomes 'an' (this might be a standard abbreviation I've not previously seen).
'chart' placed around 'la' is 'charlat'.
'charlat'+'an'='CHARLATAN'

(Other definitions for charlatan that I've seen before include "Person who falsely claims to be an expert" , "Deceiver who attracts customers with tricks or jokes" , "Quack doctor" , "ake" , "imposter" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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