Check current fee to guard outlaws' leader and decline (11)
I believe the answer is:
deteriorate
'decline' is the definition.
(I know that decline is a is a more specific form of the action of deteriorate)
'check current fee to guard outlaws' leader' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'check' could be 'deter' (slow the progress of) and 'deter' is found within the answer.
'current' could be 'i' (symbol for electric current) and 'i' is present in the answer.
'fee' could be 'rate' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'rate' is found within the answer.
A single letter 'o' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'and' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for deteriorate that I've seen before include "Become slowly worse" , "Fail" , "Go downhill" , "Become progressively worse" , "decline" .)