Crossword Genius

Game prince left, to be replaced by a democratic leader (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

charades

'game' is the definition.
(I know that charades is a type of guessing game)

'prince left to be replaced by a democratic leader' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'a' is present in the answer.
'democratic' could be 'd' (political abbreviation) and 'd' is found in the answer.
'leader' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is present in the answer.
'prince' could be 'ras' (I've seen this before) and 'ras' is found in the leftover letters.
The remaining letters 'ch' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

(Other definitions for charades that I've seen before include "Miming parlour game" , "Game in which answers are acted out" , "Games like this" , "Miming games" , "Party guessing game" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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