Crossword Genius

Scoundrel touring hot country (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

chad

'country' is the definition.
(I know that Chad is a African country)

'scoundrel touring hot' is the wordplay.
'scoundrel' becomes 'cad' (cad is a kind of scoundrel).
'touring' means one lot of letters goes inside another (touring can mean going round).
'hot' becomes 'h' (abbreviation eg on taps).
'cad' placed around 'h' is 'CHAD'.

(Other definitions for chad that I've seen before include "Piece of (almost?) punched-out paper" , "Central African republic, capital N'Djamena" , "N central African country" , "Bit of paper" , "Fish" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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