Crossword Genius

Spain, for example, where vacuous royalty supports nobleman (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

country

'spain for example' is the definition.
(spain is a kind of country)

'vacuous royalty supports nobleman' is the wordplay.
'vacuous' means to remove the middle letters.
'supports' says to put letters next to each other (bottom letters provide a support for the top ones).
'nobleman' becomes 'count' (count is a kind of nobleman).
'royalty' with its middle removed is 'ry'.
'ry' after 'count' is 'COUNTRY'.

'where' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for country that I've seen before include "State; region" , "Rural" , "See 9" , "land?" , "Nation" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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