Crossword Genius

Chap challenging endless Chinese speech (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

mandarin

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

'endless chinese speech' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to communication as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I don't see?

'chap challenging' is the wordplay.
'chap' becomes 'man' (chap can mean a man).
'challenging' becomes 'darin' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'man'+'darin'='MANDARIN'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for mandarin that I've seen before include "Small orange-like fruit (from China?)" , "Asiatic duck" , "Language formerly used by educated Chinese, or a kind of orange" , "A billion people understand it" , "High-ranking public official" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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