Confusion, as gentlemen tan badly (12)
I believe the answer is:
entanglement
'confusion' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot understand how one could define the other.
'gentlemen tan badly' is the wordplay.
'badly' indicates an anagram (letters in the wrong order).
'gentlemen'+'tan'='gentlementan'
'gentlementan' with letters rearranged gives 'ENTANGLEMENT'.
'as' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for entanglement that I've seen before include "Ill-advised liaison" , "Confused state; perplexity" , "Imbroglio" , "A complication" .)