Spot second article in French (4)
I believe the answer is:
mole
<span class="explanation-format__ClueExplanation">'<span class="explanation-format__original">spot</span>' is the definition.<br/ ><span class="explanation-format__explanation">(spot or blemish on the skin)</span><br/ ><br/ >'<span class="explanation-format__original">second article in french</span>' is the wordplay.<br/ >'<span class="explanation-format__original">second</span>' becomes '<span class="explanation-format__intermediate">mo</span>' <span class="explanation-format__explanation">(both are short periods of time)</span>.<br/ >'<span class="explanation-format__original">article in french</span>' becomes '<span class="explanation-format__intermediate">le</span>' <span class="explanation-format__explanation">('the', the definite article in French)</span>.<br/ >'<span class="explanation-format__intermediate">mo</span>'+'<span class="explanation-format__intermediate">le</span>'='<span class="explanation-format__answer">MOLE</span>'<br/ ></span>
(Other definitions for mole that I've seen before include "sauce" , "Infiltrator" , "Tunneller" , "Spy - creator of hills?" , "Agent; breakwater" .)