A two-way source of detective information (5)
I believe the answer is:
radar
'source of detective information' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'a two-way' is the wordplay.
'a two' becomes 'rada' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'way' becomes 'R' (abbreviation for right).
'rada'+'r'='RADAR'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for radar that I've seen before include "Navigational aid" , "waves to expose foe" , "Kind of gun" , "Method for detecting distant planes, ships etc" , "Electronic detection system" .)