Crossword Genius

Detective facing tough neighbourhood (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

district

'neighbourhood' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'detective facing tough' is the wordplay.
'detective' becomes 'di' (Detective Inspector abbreviation).
'facing' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'tough' becomes 'strict' (I've seen this before).
'di'+'strict'='DISTRICT'

(Other definitions for district that I've seen before include "Area (of a town/city)" , "Area of town/country" , "Territorial division" , "A quarter" , "Area of a town or city" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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