Crossword Genius

Tea and fruit taken round east of the Lizard? (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

chameleon

'the lizard?' is the definition.
(chameleon is a kind of lizard)

'tea and fruit taken round east' is the wordplay.
'tea' becomes 'cha' (cha is a type of tea).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'fruit' becomes 'melon' (melon is a kind of fruit**).
'taken round' is an insertion indicator.
'east' becomes 'e' ('E' can be a synonym of 'east').
'melon' going around 'e' is 'meleon'.
'cha'+'meleon'='CHAMELEON'

'of' is the link.

(Other definitions for chameleon that I've seen before include "Lizard that can change its colours" , "Self-camouflaging lizard" , "fickle person" , "Someone who changes position to suit the situation" , "Colour-changing lizard" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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