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To keep the French in sight requires a certain skill (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sleight

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'a certain skill' is the definition.
'sleight' can be an answer for 'skill' (I have seen 'Handy skill' mean 'sleight' so perhaps 'skill' could also mean 'sleight'). I am unsure of the 'a certain' bit.

'to keep the french in sight' is the wordplay.
'to keep the french' becomes 'le' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'le' inserted within 'sight' is 'SLEIGHT'.

'requires' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sleight that I've seen before include "craft" , "Conjuror uses this" , "It's deceiving to the eye" , "Tricky cunning" , "Handy skill" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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