Crossword Genius

South American couple bearing a lot of intense pain (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

patagonian

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

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

'couple bearing a lot of intense pain' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'bearing' could be 'n' (north is a compass bearing) and 'n' is located in the answer.
'a' could be 'an' and 'an' is found within the answer.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for patagonian that I've seen before include "From southern Argentina and Chile" , "South American" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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