Detective heads north, mystified, with not enough staff (5-6)
I believe the answer is:
short-handed
'detective heads north mystified with not enough staff' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'heads north mystified with not enough staff' is the wordplay.
'mystified' is an anagram indicator.
'with not enough staff' becomes 'd' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'heads'+'north'='headsnorth'
'headsnorth' is an anagram of 'shorthande'.
'shorthande'+'d'='SHORT-HANDED'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for short-handed that I've seen before include "Lacking sufficient staff" , "needing more staff" , "Not having enough staff" , "need of more staff" .)