Crossword Genius

Accommodation housing one rare English animal (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

giraffe

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'animal' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'accommodation housing one rare english' is the wordplay.
'accommodation' becomes 'gaff' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'housing' is an insertion indicator.
'one' becomes 'i' (Roman numeral).
'rare' becomes 'r' (listed by Oxford Dictionary of Abbreviations).
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'i'+'r'='ir'
'gaff' going around 'ir' is 'giraff'.
'giraff'+'e'='GIRAFFE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for giraffe that I've seen before include "Animal once known as a camelopard" , "Tall quadruped" , "The largest ruminant" , "wild beast" , "Tallest living quadruped" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sunday Times.
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