The common sense to set up paper around Oxford (4)
I believe the answer is:
nous
'the common sense' is the definition.
(nous is a kind of common sense)
'set up paper around oxford' is the wordplay.
'set up' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'paper' becomes 'sun' (The Sun, UK newspaper).
'around' is an insertion indicator.
'oxford' becomes 'o' (this could be a standard abbreviation of which I'm unaware).
'sun' placed around 'o' is 'suon'.
'suon' reversed gives 'NOUS'.
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nous that I've seen before include "FT in Paris, say" , "How the French describe their own" , "We, in France, have common sense" , "Our (French); practical intelligence (colloq.)" , "Informal common sense" .)