Crossword Genius

Long shot to defend Iraq's interior hash (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

farrago

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'hash' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'long shot to defend iraq's interior' is the wordplay.
'long shot' becomes 'fargo' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'to defend' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'interior' says to take the centre.
The middle letters of 'iraq' are 'ra'.
'fargo' going around 'ra' is 'FARRAGO'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for farrago that I've seen before include "Hash" , "Confused medley" , "mix-up" , "disorganised affair" , "Mix" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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