Crossword Genius

Plan in school making a mark (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

splotch

'a mark' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'plan in school' is the wordplay.
'plan' becomes 'plot' (plotting is a kind of planning**).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'school' becomes 'sch'.
'plot' placed within 'sch' is 'SPLOTCH'.

'making' acts as a link.

(Other definitions for splotch that I've seen before include "Spot, splash, smear" , "Mark" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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