Soldier at base, tackling onset of shellshock, gets to demobilise? (8)
I believe the answer is:
paralyse
'demobilise?' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are verbs in their base form.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'soldier at base tackling onset of shellshock' is the wordplay.
'soldier' becomes 'para' (paratrooper).
'at base' becomes 'lye' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'tackling' indicates putting letters inside (to tackle is to take possession of).
'onset of' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'shellshock' is 's'.
'lye' enclosing 's' is 'lyse'.
'para'+'lyse'='PARALYSE'
'gets to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for paralyse that I've seen before include "Cause to be immobile" , "Immobilise a person" , "Render immobile" , "Deprive of ability to move" , "Make powerless, immobile, unable to function" .)