Crossword Genius

500 university Fellows not working (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

duff

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'not working' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how one could define the other.

'500 university fellows' is the wordplay.
'500' becomes 'd' ('d' can be a synonym of '500').
'university' becomes 'u'.
'fellows' becomes 'ff'.
'd'+'u'+'ff'='DUFF'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for duff that I've seen before include "Steamed pudding - 2" , "Dud - pud" , "Useless -- broken" , "Homer's so-called favourite tipple" , "Pudding -- useless -- Homer Simpson's kind of beer" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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