Card man leaves if diamonds needed for some tricks? (8)
I believe the answer is:
artifice
'card man' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how they can define each other.
'if diamonds needed for some tricks?' is the wordplay.
'diamonds' becomes 'ice' (slang term for diamonds).
'needed' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'for' says to put letters next to each other (I've seen this in other clues).
'some tricks?' becomes 'art' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'if' put next to 'ice' is 'ifice'.
'ifice' after 'art' is 'ARTIFICE'.
'leaves' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for artifice that I've seen before include "BRICK/TRICK" , "Crafty deception or stratagem" , "Clever trickery" , "Clever trick, crafty ploy" , "Clever contrivance" .)