Crossword Genius

Idiot gets engineers an explosive compound (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

nitre

'an explosive compound' is the definition.

'idiot gets engineers' is the wordplay.
'idiot' becomes 'nit' (nit can mean a stupid person).
'gets' says to put letters next to each other.
'engineers' becomes 're' (abbreviation for Royal Engineers).
'nit'+'re'='NITRE'

(Other definitions for nitre that I've seen before include "A part of fertilizer" , "what goes into bangers" , "explosive ingredient" , "safeguard against decay" , "Inert kind of saltpetre" .)

I've seen this clue in The Mirror.
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