Crossword Genius

Land conservationists initially owned (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

chad

'land' is the definition.
(Chad is an example)

'conservationists initially owned' is the wordplay.
'initially' indicates taking the first letters.
'owned' becomes 'had' ('have' can be a synonym of 'own').
The initial letter of 'conservationists' is 'c'.
'c'+'had'='CHAD'

(Other definitions for chad that I've seen before include "Feature of controversial election once" , "Bit of paper" , "Punched paper; African nation" , "Large, shallow lake in north central Africa" , "Piece of (almost?) punched-out paper" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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.