Problems to be solved? English Queen leading countries without leader (9)
I believe the answer is:
equations
'problems' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to communication as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'solved? english queen leading countries without leader' is the wordplay.
'solved? english queen leading' becomes 'equ' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'countries' becomes 'nations' ('nation' can be a synonym of 'country').
'without leader' means to remove the first letter.
'nations' with its first letter taken off is 'ations'.
'equ'+'ations'='EQUATIONS'
'to be' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for equations that I've seen before include "Mathematical assertions that two expressions are equal" , "'In maths, assertions that two expressions are equal (9)'" .)