Crossword Genius

Eminent inspector with poor suiting dropped (13)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

distinguished

'eminent' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'inspector with poor suiting dropped' is the wordplay.
'inspector' becomes 'di' (I've seen this in other clues).
'with' is an insertion indicator.
'poor' indicates an anagram.
'dropped' becomes 'shed' (shedding is a kind of dropping).
'suiting' is an anagram of 'istingu'.
'di' placed around 'istingu' is 'distingui'.
'distingui'+'shed'='DISTINGUISHED'

(Other definitions for distinguished that I've seen before include "Treated as different" , "Differentiated; eminent" , "Acclaimed" , "Made out; noble" , "Uniquely recognised" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.