Blooming years passed wearing shackles (8)
I believe the answer is:
twenties
'blooming years' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are plural nouns, I don't see how one could define the other.
'passed wearing shackles' is the wordplay.
'passed' becomes 'went' (I've seen this in other clues).
'wearing' becomes 'ties' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'shackles' indicates putting letters inside (shackle can mean imprison).
'went' placed inside 'ties' is 'TWENTIES'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for twenties that I've seen before include "ten years" , "period of years" , "what lies ahead for 27 [TEENAGER]?" , "The decade was said to be roaring" , "Scores" .)