Mariner's heading to Egypt, a piece of headgear covered in blotchy marking (3,7)
I believe the answer is:
sea captain
'mariner's' is the definition.
(sea captain is a kind of mariner)
'heading to egypt a piece of headgear covered in blotchy marking' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is within the answer.
'piece' could be 'p' (abbreviation for Pawn) and 'p' is found within the answer.
'covered' could be 'in' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'in' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for sea captain that I've seen is " Cook was one".)