Is responsible for the department preaching to the masses? (8)
I believe the answer is:
minister
'the masses?' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how one could define the other.
'is responsible for the department preaching' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'is' is found in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'miner' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for minister that I've seen before include "Government or church officer" , "Political or religious official" , "Member of parliament" , "Member of the clergy or of the Front Bench" , "Senior politician" .)