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Snake crosses border by one old province (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

bohemia

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

'old province' is the definition.
'bohemia' can be an answer for 'province' (I have seen 'province of Europe' mean 'bohemia' so perhaps 'province' could also mean 'bohemia'). I am not sure about the 'old' bit.

'snake crosses border by one' is the wordplay.
'snake' becomes 'boa' (boa is a kind of snake).
'crosses' indicates putting letters inside.
'border by' becomes 'hem' (I've seen this before. I am not sure about the 'by' bit.).
'one' becomes 'I' (Roman numeral).
'hem'+'i'='hemi'
'boa' enclosing 'hemi' is 'BOHEMIA'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for bohemia that I've seen before include "Part of the Czech Republic" , "old kingdom" , "District for unconventional people - former European kingdom" , "Czechs seen here" , "Region of central Europe" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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