Crossword Genius

Economist a forger, eating bananas up (4,5)

Ross

I think it could be either:

Which length description are you looking for?:

4

4,5

adam smith

'economist' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'a forger eating bananas up' is the wordplay.
'forger' becomes 'smith' (I've seen this before).
'eating' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'bananas' becomes 'mad' (slang for insane).
'up' shows that the letters should be reversed in order (in down clue: letters go upwards).
'mad' in reverse letter order is 'dam'.
'a'+'smith'='asmith'
'asmith' going around 'dam' is 'ADAM SMITH'.

(Other definitions for adam smith that I've seen before include "Economist" , "Advocate of free trade" , "The Wealth of Nations author" , "Moral philosopher" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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