Crossword Genius

One spent in South Africa? (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

rand

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'south africa?' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't see how one could define the other.

'one spent in' is the wordplay.
'one' becomes 'an' (an apple is one apple).
'spent' becomes 'rd' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'an' inserted inside 'rd' is 'RAND'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for rand that I've seen before include "South African currency unit" , "Monetary unit in South Africa" , "Currency of South Africa" , "Overseas money" , "our 1/4 Across [GOLD MEDALLIST] in 1964" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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