Climbing weed – at first, it was high up to the hips (5-4)
I believe the answer is:
waist-deep
'up to the hips' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'climbing weed at first it was high' is the wordplay.
'climbing' shows that the letters should be reversed in order (in a down clue, letters climb up).
'weed' becomes 'peed' ('pee' can be a synonym of 'wee').
'at' says to put letters next to each other (I've seen this in other clues).
'first' says to put letters next to each other.
'high' indicates an anagram (like drunk).
'peed' in reverse letter order is 'deep'.
'it' put next to 'was' is 'itwas'.
'itwas' is an anagram of 'waist'.
'deep' after 'waist' is 'WAIST-DEEP'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for waist-deep that I've seen before include "(Of water) coming halfway up the body" , "(Of water) covering legs and lower body" .)