A friend in Belfast fire? (7)
I believe the answer is:
animate
'fire?' is the definition.
(I know that animate is a kind of excite)
'a friend in belfast' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'a' could be 'an' and 'an' is found within the answer.
'friend' could be 'mate' (mate is a kind of friend) and 'mate' is found within the answer.
A single letter 'i' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for animate that I've seen before include "Inject life into, as with cartoon" , "Eat main (anag.)" , "Bring to life, like cartoon" , "Encourage" , "Instil life into - say cartoon" .)