Motorists in Malta spoiled former capital (4-3)

I believe the answer is:

alma-ata

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'former capital' is the definition.
'Alma-Ata' can be an answer for 'capital' (Alma-Ata is an example). I'm not sure about the 'former' bit.

'motorists in malta spoiled' is the wordplay.
'motorists' becomes 'aa' (I've seen this in other clues).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'spoiled' indicates anagramming the letters.
'malta' with letters rearranged gives 'almta'.
'aa' placed within 'almta' is 'ALMA-ATA'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for alma-ata that I've seen is " Former capital city in Kazakhstan".)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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