Detective given power in intelligence deal (8)
I believe the answer is:
dispense
'deal' is the definition.
(I know that deal is a more specific form of deal)
'detective given power in intelligence' is the wordplay.
'detective' becomes 'di' (Detective Inspector abbreviation).
'given' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'power' becomes 'p' (symbol in physics).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'intelligence' becomes 'sense' (I've seen this in another clue).
'p' placed inside 'sense' is 'spense'.
'di'+'spense'='DISPENSE'
(Other definitions for dispense that I've seen before include "Deal out or distribute" , "Do without - give to others" , "let off?" , "Supply (prescription)" , "Execute" .)