Crossword Genius

Sanction arthouse works to tour Italy (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

authorise

'sanction' is the definition.
('sanction'->'authorize' is in my internal thesaurus and 'ize'->'ise')

'arthouse works to tour italy' is the wordplay.
'works' is an anagram indicator.
'to tour' is an insertion indicator (to tour can mean to go around).
'italy' becomes 'i'.
'arthouse' with letters rearranged gives 'authorse'.
'authorse' placed around 'i' is 'AUTHORISE'.

(Other definitions for authorise that I've seen before include "commission" , "Give official permission to" , "warrant" , "Sanction or establish officially" , "OK" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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