Crossword Genius

Get finer creed or formulation from surveillance equipment (4,8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tape recorder

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'equipment' is the definition.
(tape recorder is a kind of equipment)

'get finer creed or formulation from surveillance' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'or' is within the answer.
an anagram of 'creed' is 'erecd' which is within the left over letters.
'from' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for tape recorder that I've seen before include "Machine for preserving sounds on cassette" , "Device to preserve sound" , "Device for reproducing sound" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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