Poverty as blemish on Cambridge? (8)
I believe the answer is:
scarcity
'poverty' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'blemish on cambridge?' is the wordplay.
'blemish' becomes 'scar' (scarring is a kind of blemishing).
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'cambridge?' becomes 'city' (cambridge is a kind of city).
'scar'+'city'='SCARCITY'
'as' is the link.
(Other definitions for scarcity that I've seen before include "Lack - dearth" , "Shortage" , "Shortness of supply" , "Want" , "Inadequate supply" .)