Unplanned occurrence when detectives are lodged in air-conditioned ward (8)
I believe the answer is:
accident
'unplanned occurrence' is the definition.
'accident' can be an answer for 'occurrence' (accident is a kind of occurrence). I am not sure about the 'unplanned' bit.
'detectives are lodged in air-conditioned ward' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'detectives' could be 'cid' and 'cid' is present in the answer.
'are' could be 'a' (the 'are' is a metric unit of area) and 'a' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'cent' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'when' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for accident that I've seen before include "Collision" , "Chance occurrence." , "Unforseen misfortune" , "fluke" , "Fortune" .)