Acceptable because neither mad nor unintelligent? (6,6)
I believe the answer is:
within reason
'neither mad nor unintelligent?' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'acceptable because' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'acceptable' could be 'on' (as opposed to not on, unacceptable) and 'on' is found within the answer.
'because' could be 'as' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'as' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for within reason that I've seen before include "Not OTT" , "In moderation" , "To a moderately sufficient degree" .)