Develop habit in Los Angeles and capriciously place order for encyclopaedia (12)
I believe the answer is:
alphabetical
'los angeles and capriciously place order for encyclopaedia' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'develop habit' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'habit' could be 'tic' (I have seen 'Nervous habit' mean 'tic' so perhaps 'habit' could also mean 'tic') and 'tic' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for alphabetical that I've seen before include "One kind of order" , "Arranged in order from A to Z" , "One sort of order" , "Ordered A to Z" , "Related to 26 characters" .)