Tells the next generation how the easy victory was won (5-4)
I believe the answer is:
hands-down
'tells the next generation how the easy victory' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'won' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'won' is 'own' which is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'was' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hands-down that I've seen before include "Win thus manually for an outright victory" , "Win thus manually for clear victory" , "Of victory, won easily in manual manner?" , "Leaves - effortlessly" , "Win thus, easily and completely" .)