Crossword Genius

Knights, perhaps, caught defecting Nazi soldiers (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

chessmen

'knights perhaps' is the definition.
(knight is a kind of chessman)

'caught defecting nazi soldiers' is the wordplay.
'caught' becomes 'c' (cricket abbreviation).
'defecting nazi' becomes 'Hess' (Nazi politician Rudolf Hess).
'soldiers' becomes 'men' (men can mean a group of soldiers).
'c'+'hess'+'men'='CHESSMEN'

(Other definitions for chessmen that I've seen before include "Pawns, knights, bishops etc - males only" , "Pawns, queens, rooks etc" , "Bishops and knights, say" , "'Bishops, pawns etc (8)'" , "Knights, rooks, pawns etc collectively - even the queen" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.