Name the Italian in a British regiment (5)
I believe the answer is:
silas
'name' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'the italian in a british regiment' is the wordplay.
'the italian' becomes 'il' (Italian for 'the').
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'a british regiment' becomes 'sas' (Special Air Service. I am not sure about the 'british' bit.).
'il' inserted inside 'sas' is 'SILAS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for silas that I've seen before include "-- Marner (George Eliot novel)" , "Weaver" , "Uncle - (Le Fanu); - Marner (Eliot)" , "' - - Marner' (lit.)" , "Missionary" .)