Significant hole in one by an old African? (10)
I believe the answer is:
abyssinian
'african?' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'significant hole in one by an old' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'hole' could be 'abyss' (I have seen 'Deep hole ' mean 'abyss' so perhaps 'hole' could also mean 'abyss') and 'abyss' is present in the answer.
'in' is present in the answer.
'one' could be 'an' (an apple is one apple) and 'an' is located in the answer.
'an' could be 'i' (Roman numeral for one) and 'i' is located in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for abyssinian that I've seen before include "from east Africa" , "from Ethiopia?" , "from old African country" .)