Noted barrier in the Netherlands (4)
I believe the answer is:
edam
'the netherlands' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how one could define the other.
'noted barrier' is the wordplay.
'noted' becomes 'e' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'barrier' becomes 'dam' (dam is a kind of barrier).
'e'+'dam'='EDAM'
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for edam that I've seen before include "Sphere of Dutch cheese" , "edible sphere" , "Dutch specialty" , "Spherical cheese" , "Madeinto popular cheese" .)