Crossword Genius

Saw American chopper landing on island (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

axiom

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

'american chopper landing on island' is the wordplay.
'american chopper' becomes 'ax' (I am not sure about the 'american' bit.).
'landing on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (in a down clue, some letters go on top of others).
'island' becomes 'iom' (abbreviation for Isle of Man).
'ax'+'iom'='AXIOM'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for axiom that I've seen before include "that's self-evident" , "Truth assumed to be self-evident" , "Maxim - truism" , "Truism - proverb" , "Accepted statement taken as self-evidently true" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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