Butchers secretly mislay shears (5)
I believe the answer is:
slays
'butchers' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are verbs in their -s form, I cannot understand how they can define each other.
'secretly mislay shears' is the wordplay.
'secretly' indicates the answer is hidden within the clue.
'SLAYS' can be found hidden inside 'mislay shears'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for slays that I've seen before include "Violently kills" , "Kills intentionally" .)