Attempts at boiling in a steam vessel? (5)
I believe the answer is:
shots
'attempts' is the definition.
(I know this)
'boiling in a steam vessel?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'boiling' could be 'hot' (similar in meaning) and 'hot' is found in the answer.
'vessel?' could be 'ss' (prefix in ship names eg SS Great Britain) and 'ss' is present in the leftover letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'at' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for shots that I've seen before include "Gunfire -- attempts" , "See 2" .)