Long-lost article on country farmer? (6)
I believe the answer is:
yeoman
'farmer?' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'long-lost article on country' is the wordplay.
'long lost article' becomes 'ye' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'on' means one lot of letters go next to another (in a down clue, letters appear on others).
'country' becomes 'oman' (Oman is an example).
'ye'+'oman'='YEOMAN'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for yeoman that I've seen before include "Petty officer" , "Land-owning farmer - beefeater" , "... of the Guard (Gilbert and Sullivan)" , "Old English soldier or small farmer" , "Royal attendant" .)