Came to a standstill, deathly ill, and took a year out (6)
I believe the answer is:
halted
'deathly ill and took a year out' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'came to a standstill' is the wordplay.
'came' becomes 'ed' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'to a' means one lot of letters go next to another (I've seen this in other clues).
'standstill' becomes 'halt' (I've seen this in another clue).
'ed' put after 'halt' is 'HALTED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for halted that I've seen before include "Came to a stop, ceased to move" , "Caused to stop" , "Checked" , "Limped - hesitated - stopped" , "Came to a sudden stop" .)