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Spring to retweet answer from old city state (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sparta

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

'old city state' is the definition.
'sparta' can be an answer for 'state' (I have seen 'Laconic state' mean 'sparta' so perhaps 'state' could also mean 'sparta'). I'm not certain of the 'old city' bit.

'spring to retweet answer' is the wordplay.
'spring' becomes 'spa' (I've seen this before).
'to retweet' becomes 'rt' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'answer' becomes 'a' (abbreviation eg in Q and A).
'spa'+'rt'+'a'='SPARTA'

'from' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sparta that I've seen before include "Ancient Greek city whose citizens were famed for toughness" , "Ancient kingdom renowned for asceticism" , "Ancient country" , "in ancient Greece" , "Enemy of Athens?" .)

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