Crossword Genius

Guardian's gripping article is utterly bizarre (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tutelary

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

'guardian's' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'gripping article is utterly bizarre' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'article' could be 'a' (the indefinite article in English) and 'a' is found within the answer.
an anagram of 'utterly' is 'tutelry' which is located in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for tutelary that I've seen before include "Like the Guardian" , "Serving as guardian, giving protection" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app