Taken by university head turning up with two books (6)
I believe the answer is:
nabbed
'taken by university' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with contact as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'head turning up with two books' is the wordplay.
'two books' means two substitutions for 'book'.
'head' becomes 'dean' (dean is a kind of head).
'turning up' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'with' indicates putting letters inside.
'book' becomes 'b' (abbreviation for book).
'book' becomes 'b' (abbreviation for book).
'dean' written backwards gives 'naed'.
'b'+'b'='bb'
'naed' placed around 'bb' is 'NABBED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nabbed that I've seen before include "Caught someone doing something wrong" , "Arrested" , "Seized suddenly" , "Caught (in the act)" .)