Crossword Genius

Party up with detectives ... for a price (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

odds

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

'price' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'party up with detectives' is the wordplay.
'party' becomes 'do' (do can informally mean a party).
'up' shows that the letters should be reversed in order (in down clue: letters go upwards).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'detectives' becomes 'ds' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'do' back-to-front is 'od'.
'od'+'ds'='ODDS'

'for a' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for odds that I've seen before include "Scraps" , "Chance" , "Betting rates" , "Indicator of likely betting winnings" , "Chances, probability" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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