Crossword Genius

Spies man with lash developing flogging skill (12)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

salesmanship

'flogging skill' is the definition.
(skill of selling or flogging things)

'spies man with lash developing' is the wordplay.
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'developing' indicates an anagram (letters developed into a new form).
'spies'+'man'='spiesman'
'spiesman' after 'lash' is 'lashspiesman'.
'lashspiesman' with letters rearranged gives 'SALESMANSHIP'.

(Another definition for salesmanship that I've seen is " Talent for shifting".)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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