What does the cryptic crossword clue "Country’s first chess champion, unknown (5)" mean?

The definition is "Country". The wordplay uses a charade (building blocks). I (synonym="Roman numeral for “one”, the first cardinal number") + TAL (synonym="Mikhail, Latvian-Soviet chess champion") + Y (synonym="symbol for an unknown quantity in mathematics") = ITALY; definition: "Country's" The answer is ITALY.

Country’s first chess champion, unknown (5)

Guardian Cryptic #29529 | 28 Across | 2024-11-01 flower

← Back to puzzle

Visit Guardian's puzzle site →