Crossword Genius

He brings a man back (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

noel

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

'he' is the definition.

'brings a man back' is the wordplay.
'brings' becomes 'leo' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'a man' becomes 'N' (knight, a man in chess).
'back' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'leo'+'n'='leon'
'leon' back-to-front is 'NOEL'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for noel that I've seen before include "A lone sort of Christmas" , "Christmastime" , "Season around the 25th December" , "Girl - boy - Christmas" , "Feature of last month" .)

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