Distressed kite feeding - it’s withdrawn and tense (5-4)
I believe the answer is:
knife-edge
'tense' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't see how they can define each other.
'distressed kite feeding it's withdrawn' is the wordplay.
'distressed' indicates anagramming the letters.
'withdrawn' is a deletion indicator.
'kite'+'feeding'='kitefeeding'
'kitefeeding' with 'it' taken out is 'kefeeding'.
'kefeeding' with letters rearranged gives 'KNIFE-EDGE'.
'and' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for knife-edge that I've seen is " precarious situation".)