Crossword Genius

* Who wins silver north-east of it? (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

champagne

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

'it?' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'who wins silver north-east' is the wordplay.
'who wins' becomes 'champ' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'silver' becomes 'Ag' (Ag is the chemical symbol for silver).
'north east' becomes 'ne'.
'champ'+'ag'+'ne'='CHAMPAGNE'

'of' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for champagne that I've seen before include "French 'sparkler'" , "Fizzy drink" , "French sparkling wine" , "White sparkling wine" , "The drink called bubbly" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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