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Moor, say, a vessel having day on board (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

african

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'moor' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?

'a vessel having day on board' is the wordplay.
'vessel' becomes 'can' (I've seen this before).
'having' says to put letters next to each other.
'day' becomes 'fri'.
'on board' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'a'+'can'='acan'
'acan' enclosing 'fri' is 'AFRICAN'.

'say' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for african that I've seen before include "Person from south of the Mediterranean" , "Far Inca for this nationality" , "From a certain continent" , "Black" , "Person from Kenya, say" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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