Crossword Genius

Take a gamble importing European root crop (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

beet

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

'root crop' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both plants as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?

'take a gamble importing european' is the wordplay.
'take a gamble' becomes 'bet' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'importing' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'european' becomes 'e' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'bet' placed around 'e' is 'BEET'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for beet that I've seen before include "E.g. chard, mangelwurzel" , "Root used as a source of sugar" , "An edible root plant" , "Sugar-yielding root" , "Root, maybe source of sugar" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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