Crossword Genius

Quality in setting up cunning appeal (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

trait

'quality' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'setting up cunning appeal' is the wordplay.
'setting up' is a reversal indicator.
'cunning' becomes 'art' (I've seen this before).
'appeal' becomes 'it'.
'art' written backwards gives 'tra'.
'tra'+'it'='TRAIT'

'in' is the link.

(Other definitions for trait that I've seen before include "Mannerism" , "Distinguishing feature" , "Attribute, characteristic" , "Characteristic or distinguishing quality" , "Decorative band" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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