Lay out data conveying thanks to top boffin at university, though overdue (8)
I believe the answer is:
tabulate
'lay out data conveying thanks to top boffin' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'at university though overdue' is the wordplay.
'at' says to put letters next to each other.
'university though' becomes 'tabu' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'overdue' becomes 'late' (similar in meaning).
'tabu' next to 'late' is 'TABULATE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tabulate that I've seen before include "Methodically arrange" , "Arrange in table or list" , "Put into rows, columns" , "with flattened structures" , "Catalogue" .)