Academic canny concealing report of arrest? (9)
I believe the answer is:
scholarly
'academic' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
I don't understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for scholarly that I've seen before include "Involving serious academic study" , "in academic style?" , "Learned, academic" , "Erudite" .)