Crossword Genius

Book a lot of combat sport, then hit deceptively (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

judith

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'book' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I don't see?

'a lot of combat sport then hit deceptively' is the wordplay.
'a lot of combat sport' becomes 'jud' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'then' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'deceptively' is an anagram indicator.
'hit' with letters rearranged gives 'ith'.
'jud'+'ith'='JUDITH'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for judith that I've seen before include "Apocryphal book" , "miss" , "Apocryphal heroine who killed Holofernes" , "Girl's name" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app