Crossword Genius

Town with a number of sheep (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

lewes

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'town' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'with a number of sheep' is the wordplay.
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'a number of' becomes 'l' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'sheep' becomes 'ewes' (a ewe is a female sheep).
'l'+'ewes' is 'LEWES'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for lewes that I've seen before include "somewhere in Sussex" , "Town near Glyndebourne" , "East fourteen Dn town" , "County town of East Sussex" , "Administrative town of East Sussex" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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