Crossword Genius

Account and article targeted backward scholarly world (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

academia

'scholarly world' is the definition.
(world or sphere of scholars)

'account and article targeted backward' is the wordplay.
'account' becomes 'ac' (abbreviation).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'article' becomes 'a' (the indefinite article in English).
'targeted' becomes 'aimed' (I've seen this before).
'backward' says the letters should be written backwards.
'aimed' backwards is 'demia'.
'ac'+'a'+'demia'='ACADEMIA'

(Other definitions for academia that I've seen before include "Scholarly world" , "university types" , "Educational community" , "scholastic world" , "university circles" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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