Who might give ten percent a year to keep Republican in faraway town? (9)
I believe the answer is:
tipperary
'faraway town?' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'who might give ten percent a year to keep republican' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'give' could be 'tip' (tipping is a kind of giving) and 'tip' is found within the answer.
'a' could be 'per' (eg 'one a day' means 'one per day') and 'per' is present in the answer.
'year' could be 'y' and 'y' is located in the answer.
'republican' could be 'r' (abbreviation) and 'r' is found in the answer.
A single letter 'a' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tipperary that I've seen before include "long way away if going by air" , "Part of Ireland" , "somewhere in Ireland" , "Irish county, a long way away?" , "Irish county, a long way off in song" .)