Crossword Genius

Way to pass capital of Ethiopia, heading for Australia? (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

east

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

'heading for australia?' is the definition.
'east' can be an answer for 'heading' (heading can mean a compass point or direction). I'm not sure about the 'for australia?' bit.

'way to pass capital of ethiopia' is the wordplay.
'way' becomes 'ast' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'to pass' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'capital of' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'ethiopia' is 'e'.
'ast' after 'e' is 'EAST'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for east that I've seen before include "Tom's schoolfellow" , "An opponent of North" , "course" , "playing partner" , "Direction of the rising sun" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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