North-flowing brown river free of chemicals? (7)
I believe the answer is:
natural
'free of chemicals?' is the definition.
'natural' can be an answer for 'free' (thesaurus). I am unsure of the 'of chemicals?' bit.
'north-flowing brown river' is the wordplay.
'north' is a reversal indicator (in a down clue, letters go up or 'northward').
'flowing brown' becomes 'tan' (tan is a kind of brown. I am not sure about the 'flowing' bit.).
'river' becomes 'ural' (Russian river).
'tan' written backwards gives 'nat'.
'nat'+'ural'='NATURAL'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for natural that I've seen before include "Normal; not man-made" , "Genuine, unaffected" , "Unvarnished" , "Normal; not sharp or flat" , "chemical-free" .)