What Chennai was called by crazy artists (6)
I believe the answer is:
madras
'what chennai was called' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'by crazy artists' is the wordplay.
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'crazy' becomes 'mad' (synonyms).
'artists' becomes 'ras' (Royal Academicians abbreviation).
'mad' put next to 'ras' is 'MADRAS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for madras that I've seen before include "something hot?" , "Kind of curry" , "Variety of curry" , "Tamil Nadu capital; a hottish curry" , "Indian city now recalled" .)