Ruins things for graduate taking strange route to south (8)
I believe the answer is:
saboteur
'ruins things' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how they can define each other.
'graduate taking strange route to south' is the wordplay.
'graduate' becomes 'ab' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'taking' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'strange' is an anagram indicator.
'to' means one lot of letters go next to another (I've seen this in other clues).
'south' becomes 'S' (abbreviation).
'route' anagrammed gives 'oteur'.
'ab'+'oteur' is 'aboteur'.
'aboteur' after 's' is 'SABOTEUR'.
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for saboteur that I've seen before include "Wrecker (of hunts?)" , "One causes damage for political reasons" , "Oen who causes industrial damage for pay" , "Rue boast about one who commits industrial espionage" , "One who disrupts or damages by design" .)