About half hour? Strauss's back to wither? (7)
I believe the answer is:
shrivel
'to wither?' is the definition.
('shrivel' can be a synonym of 'wither')
'about half hour? strauss's back' is the wordplay.
'about' indicates putting letters inside.
'half hour?' becomes 'hr' (abbreviation. I am not sure about the 'half' bit.).
'strauss's' becomes 'Levi's' (h9th-century businessman Levi Strauss).
'back' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'levis' backwards is 'sivel'.
'hr' placed within 'sivel' is 'SHRIVEL'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for shrivel that I've seen before include "Wither with loss of moisture" , "Shrink as from cold" , "Wither, shrink" , "Dehydrate" , "Wither from lack of water" .)