Crossword Genius

Rob unlicensed taxi mainly in republic (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

dominica

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'republic' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot understand how one could define the other.

'rob unlicensed taxi mainly' is the wordplay.
'rob' becomes 'do' (I've seen this in other clues).
'unlicensed' becomes 'mini' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'taxi' becomes 'cab' (synonyms).
'mainly' means to remove the last letter (virtually or mainly the word, but not all of it).
'cab' with its final letter taken off is 'ca'.
'do'+'mini'+'ca'='DOMINICA'

'in' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for dominica that I've seen before include "Largest of the Windward Islands" , "Miss Sunday" , "Caribbean island nation" , "country" , "former British colony" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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