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Evening all,

21a) Top person in Whitehall ran admin appallingly (8)

- A - D -R - N

The anagram screams out MANDARIN, but can't see why the top person in Whitehall,

Put me out of my misery please guys!

Mandarin is also applied to top politicians.

It is of course mandarin, the clue is "top person" not "the top person" thereby implying the possibility of general use thereby possible plural.

Correct. Whitehall mandarins are often spoken of. I they are just big white chiefs. (Hope that's not racist).

P

Thanks for that piece of info, I had never heard that before. I did check it in Chambers, and it says a high ranking official or bureaucrat; a person of standing in the literary world.
The Chambers definition wasn't enough to convince me.
But you guys have all said it, so in it goes
Cheers