Sovereign’s wife backed US lieutenant with articles (7)
I believe the answer is:
sultana
'sovereign's wife' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't see how one could define the other.
'backed us lieutenant with articles' is the wordplay.
'backed' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'lieutenant' becomes 'lt' (abbreviation for lieutenant).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'articles' becomes 'ana' ('an' and 'a', English indefinite articles).
'us' in reverse letter order is 'su'.
'su'+'lt'+'ana'='SULTANA'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sultana that I've seen before include "Aunt Sal (anag)" , "fruity little thing" , "Dried fruit - woman in harem" , "Dried fruit - Muslim ruler's consort" , "Wife of an Eastern potentate" .)