Crossword Genius

Normal manure spread about Saints’ first XI? (5,8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

roman numerals

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

'normal manure spread about saints' first xi?' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'normal manure spread about saints' first xi?' is the wordplay.
'spread' indicates an anagram.
'about saints' first xi?' becomes 's' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'normal'+'manure'='normalmanure'
'normalmanure' is an anagram of 'romannumeral'.
'romannumeral'+'s'='ROMAN NUMERALS'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for roman numerals that I've seen before include "V, X, L, for example" , "Eg, L, X, V, etc" , "Maybe MCC" , "Eg, I, V, X, L, C, D, M" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times and The Sunday Times.
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