Crossword Genius

Fish scale catching a country man's eye (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

piranha

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

'fish scale' is the definition.
'piranha' can be an answer for 'fish' (I've seen this before). I am not sure about the 'scale' bit.

'catching a country man's eye' is the wordplay.
'catching' is an insertion indicator.
'a country' becomes 'Iran' (Iran is a country).
'man' becomes 'p' (abbreviation for pawn, a chess piece or 'man').
'eye' becomes 'ha' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'p'+'ha'='pha'
'iran' going into 'pha' is 'PIRANHA'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for piranha that I've seen before include "Voracious eater" , "Sharp-toothed fish" , "Fierce small fish of the Amazon" , "Efficient flesh remover" , "Voracious tropical fish" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app