Crossword Genius

Intelligence to capture terrible hound in murder mystery (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

whodunit

'murder mystery' is the definition.
(I know that whodunit is a type of detective fiction)

'intelligence to capture terrible hound' is the wordplay.
'intelligence' becomes 'wit' (wit is a kind of intelligence).
'to capture' indicates putting letters inside.
'terrible' indicates an anagram.
'hound' with letters rearranged gives 'hodun'.
'wit' enclosing 'hodun' is 'WHODUNIT'.

'in' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for whodunit that I've seen before include "'A crime novel, colloquially (8)'" , "Question commonly posed" , "murder investigation" , "thriller" , "Informally, a detective story or play" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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