Crossword Genius

First 365 days hosted by South American country (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

syria

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'country' is the definition.
(I know that Syria is a country)

'first 365 days hosted by south american' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'first' could be 'i' (Roman numeral for one or first) and 'i' is present in the answer.
'south' could be 's' (abbreviation) and 's' is present in the answer.
'american' could be 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names) and 'a' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for syria that I've seen before include "Land" , "Country bordering Turkey" , "Ray is in the war-torn country, oddly" , "Middle Eastern country" , "Eastern Mediterranean country" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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