Commit to paper refusal of French flag (6)
I believe the answer is:
pennon
'flag' is the definition.
(I know that pennon is a type of flag)
'commit to paper refusal of french' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'refusal' could be 'no' (saying no to something) and 'no' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'penn' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pennon that I've seen before include "Long flag, often tapering" , "Knight's personal flag" , "Flag carried by 9 across" , "Small triangular flag" , "Ship's tapering flag" .)