Crossword Genius

Party official's business working to capture one arachnid (4,8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

whip scorpion

'one arachnid' is the definition.
(whip scorpion is a kind of arachnid)

'party official's business working to capture' is the wordplay.
'party official' becomes 'whip' (I've seen this before).
'business' becomes 'corp'.
'working' becomes 'sion' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'to capture' indicates putting letters inside.
'corp' placed within 'sion' is 'scorpion'.
'whip'+'scorpion'='WHIP-SCORPION'

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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