Cub leader's ramble starting late with tons to carry (7)
I believe the answer is:
tigress
'tons to carry' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'cub leader's ramble starting late' is the wordplay.
'cub leader's' becomes 't' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'ramble' becomes 'digress' (I've seen this before).
'starting late' means to remove the first letter (the word begins later than normal).
'digress' with its first letter removed is 'igress'.
't'+'igress'='TIGRESS'
'with' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tigress that I've seen before include "dangerous animal" , "Striped feline female" , "Large female cat" , "Fierce woman" , "Female striped cat" .)