By the sound of it, girl could blow up (8)
I believe the answer is:
dynamite
'blow up' is the definition.
(dynamiting is a kind of blowing up)
'by the sound of it girl' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
'it' could be 'e' ('e' can mean 'electronic' which is similar to 'IT') and 'e' is located in the answer.
'girl' could be 'dyna' and 'dyna' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'mi' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'could' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dynamite that I've seen before include "an exciting thing" , "Nitroglycerine explosive" , "Nobel's invention" , "Tiny dame (anag)" , "Jelly" .)