Crossword Genius

Mark, about to take a bit of a holiday from school? (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

scholar

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

'a bit of a holiday from school?' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'mark about to' is the wordplay.
'mark' becomes 'scar' (mark left by an injury).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'to' becomes 'hol' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'scar' going around 'hol' is 'SCHOLAR'.

'take' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for scholar that I've seen before include "Pupil - erudite person" , "university type?" , "Person of learning" , "Learned type" , "Academic, schoolboy" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.