Formal defence of American Assistant overseeing igloo reconstruction (8)
I believe the answer is:
apologia
'formal defence' is the definition.
'apologia' can be an answer for 'defence' (apologia is a kind of defence). I'm unsure of the 'formal' bit.
'american assistant overseeing igloo reconstruction' is the wordplay.
'american' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'assistant' becomes 'pa' (personal assistant).
'overseeing' is an insertion indicator (I've seen this in other clues).
'reconstruction' indicates anagramming the letters (I've seen 'reconstructions' mean this).
'igloo' is an anagram of 'ologi'.
'pa' going around 'ologi' is 'pologia'.
'a'+'pologia'='APOLOGIA'
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for apologia that I've seen before include "Formal defence of one's actions" , "Personal written defence" , "Written defence or vindication" , "form of defence" , "Written defence of one's conduct" .)