After sign of neglect, in retirement, Del took stock (7)
I believe the answer is:
rustled
'took stock' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with perception as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'after sign of neglect in retirement del' is the wordplay.
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'sign of neglect' becomes 'rust' (I've seen this in another clue).
'in retirement' says the letters should be written in reverse (retire can mean to go back or backwards).
'del' back-to-front is 'led'.
'rust' next to 'led' is 'RUSTLED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rustled that I've seen before include "Stole cattle or made whispery sound" , "whispered" , "Stole (cattle, sheep, etc)" , "took stock" , "Stole (cattle); made a gentle noise" .)