The rich live off these obese people from the country (3,3,2,3,4)
I believe the answer is:
the fat of the land
'country' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'the rich live off these obese people from' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is present in the answer.
'rich' could be 'fat' (rich can describe fat or creamy food) and 'fat' is found within the answer.
'live' could be 'l' (electrical abbreviation) and 'l' is found within the answer.
'from' could be 'o' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'o' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'the' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for the fat of the land that I've seen before include "nation's obese?" , "The best that is obtainable" , "heavyweights?" .)