Dissect a cat in an island quarter (9)
I believe the answer is:
anatomise
'dissect' is the definition.
(anatomising is a kind of dissecting)
'a cat in an island quarter' is the wordplay.
'cat' becomes 'tom' (a tom is a male cat).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'island' becomes 'is' (geographical abbreviation).
'quarter' becomes 'e'.
'a'+'tom'='atom'
'an'+'is'='anis'
'atom' going into 'anis' is 'anatomis'.
'anatomis'+'e'='ANATOMISE'
(Another definition for anatomise that I've seen is " Closely examine".)
I've seen this clue in The Times.
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