Clothes left closer to lingerie on small mangles (7)
I believe the answer is:
garbles
'lingerie on small mangles' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are verbs in their -s form, I can't see how they can define each other.
'clothes left closer' is the wordplay.
'clothes' becomes 'garb' (garb is a kind of clothes).
'left closer' becomes 'les' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'garb'+'les'='GARBLES'
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for garbles that I've seen before include "Mixes up" , "Confuses, distorts (a message)" .)