Delayed a sailor with dire consequences (7)
I believe the answer is:
tarried
'delayed' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a sailor with dire consequences' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is within the answer.
an anagram of 'dire' is 'ried' which is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tarried that I've seen before include "as 13 [LAGGARD] may have" , "Lingered, being tardier" , "Delayed in coming or going" , "Delayed leaving (arch.)" , "Loitered" .)