Crossword Genius

Sets up line for listeners primarily in middle-eastern country (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

israel

'middle-eastern country' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'sets up line for listeners primarily in' is the wordplay.
'sets up' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'line' becomes 'l'.
'for' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'listeners' becomes 'ears'.
'primarily' says to take the initial letters.
The first letter of 'in' is 'i'.
'l'+'ears'+'i'='learsi'
'learsi' back-to-front is 'ISRAEL'.

(Other definitions for israel that I've seen before include "Jaffa's country" , "Strange serial state" , "Serial about middle east country" , "Middle-Eastern country" , "Jewish state" .)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times and the Irish Times (Crosaire).
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