With duke sent down, now one grovels (5)
I believe the answer is:
toady
'with duke' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't see how one could define the other.
'sent down now one grovels' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'down' could be 'd' and 'd' is found in the answer.
'one' could be 'a' (a thing is one thing) and 'a' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'toy' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for toady that I've seen before include "Person who flatters and behaves obsequiously to another" , "Bootlicker" , "Obsequious type" , "crawler" , "Flatterer or sycophant" .)