More distinguished chap at NW city — or larger NW area (7,10)

I believe the answer is:

greater manchester

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

'more distinguished chap at nw city or larger nw area' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether this works.

'more distinguished chap at nw city' is the wordplay.
'more distinguished' becomes 'greater' ('great' can be a synonym of 'distinguished').
'chap' becomes 'man' (chap can mean a man).
'at' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'nw city' becomes 'chester' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'greater'+'man'+'chester'='GREATER MANCHESTER'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for greater manchester that I've seen before include "Bury here" , "metropolitan county" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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.