Attendant officer's securing special indirect efforts (6)
I believe the answer is:
asides
'indirect efforts' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are plural nouns, I cannot understand how they can define each other.
'attendant officer's securing special' is the wordplay.
'attendant officer's' becomes 'aides' (aide is a kind of officer. I am not sure about the 'attendant' bit.).
'securing' indicates putting letters inside.
'special' becomes 'S' (common abbreviation as in Special Air Service).
'aides' placed around 's' is 'ASIDES'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for asides that I've seen before include "Daises (anag.)" , "Players aren't meant to hear these" , "Actors' remarks in an undertone" , "Incidental remarks" , "They're not heard by everybody" .)