Crossword Genius

Remains in the countryside (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sticks

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'countryside' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'remains in the' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'sicks' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sticks that I've seen before include "Old fogeys" , "Is bogged down" , "Refuses to move" , "Small pieces of wood" , "''... and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me''" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.
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