Cutting off chaps in army corps needing time to cross ditch (12)
I believe the answer is:
retrenchment
'cutting' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'chaps in army corps needing time to cross ditch' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'chaps' could be 'men' (chap can mean a man) and 'men' is found in the answer.
'army' could be 're' (Royal Engineers regiment) and 're' is found within the answer.
'corps' could be 're' (Royal Engineers army regiment) and 're' is present in the answer.
'time' could be 't' (abbreviation) and 't' is found within the answer.
'cross' could be 't' (shape) and 't' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'off' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for retrenchment that I've seen before include "Reduction of expenditure" , "Economy" , "Expenditure cut-back" , "Cost-cutting" .)