Crossword Genius

Photograph of the Spanish eleven initially plugging trophy (5-2)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

close-up

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'photograph' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'the spanish eleven initially plugging trophy' is the wordplay.
'the spanish' becomes 'los' ('the' in Spanish).
'eleven initially' becomes 'e' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'plugging' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters plug up a gap in the word).
'trophy' becomes 'cup' (cup is a kind of trophy).
'los'+'e'='lose'
'lose' placed within 'cup' is 'CLOSE-UP'.

'of' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for close-up that I've seen before include "Large-scale photo" , "Photo giving detailed view, as of actor" , "Short-range photo" , "Near photograph" , "Photograph or film taken at short range" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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