Crossword Genius

Dandy fellow — or one whose contribution is vital (5,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

blood donor

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

'one whose contribution is vital' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'dandy fellow or' is the wordplay.
'dandy' becomes 'blood' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'fellow' becomes 'don' (both can mean an academic).
'blood'+'don'+'or'='BLOOD-DONOR'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for blood donor that I've seen before include "One giving to NHS" , "Enabler of transfusion" , "whose contribution is vital" .)

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