Crossword Genius

Instant introduction to good university with backing from oil baron (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

mogul

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'baron' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'instant introduction to good university with backing from oil' is the wordplay.
'instant' becomes 'mo'.
'introduction to' says to take the initial letters (I've seen 'introductions to' mean this).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'backing from oil' becomes 'l' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The initial letters of 'good university' is 'gu'.
'mo'+'gu'+'l'='MOGUL'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for mogul that I've seen before include "big shot" , "Tycoon -- ski slope mound" , "Powerful businessperson" , "Magnate (from India?)" , "Mound of hard snow on ski-slope" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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