Army boss, seizing US city, turning pessimistic (5)
I believe the answer is:
cynic
'army boss' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'seizing us city turning pessimistic' is the wordplay.
'seizing' is an insertion indicator.
'us city' becomes 'NY' (short for New York).
'turning' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'pessimistic' becomes 'cic' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'ny' written backwards gives 'yn'.
'yn' put inside 'cic' is 'CYNIC'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cynic that I've seen before include "One who questions the worth of anything" , "Someone who believes the worst of others" , "Doubter of others' motives" , "One who takes a pessimistic view of human goodness or sincerity" , "One with a low view of human nature" .)