Crossword Genius

Scrutiny of very particular year sister joined (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

analysis

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'scrutiny' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'very particular year sister joined' is the wordplay.
'very particular' becomes 'anal' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'year' becomes 'y'.
'sister' becomes 'sis' (synonyms).
'joined' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'anal'+'y'+'sis'='ANALYSIS'

'of' is the link.

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(Other definitions for analysis that I've seen before include "Dissection and examination" , "Detailed interpretation" , "Criticism" , "Study of mind" , "Examination to determine component parts" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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