Crossword Genius

Head of patriotic state who puts out flags (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

paver

'who puts out flags' is the definition.
(someone who paves flagstones)

'head of patriotic state' is the wordplay.
'head of' says to take the initial letters.
'state' becomes 'aver' (I've seen this before).
The first letter of 'patriotic' is 'p'.
'p'+'aver'='PAVER'

(Another definition for paver that I've seen is " Person preparing the way".)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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