Divert leader of saboteurs ahead of illegal pursuit? (5)
I believe the answer is:
shunt
'divert' is the definition.
(shunting is a kind of diverting)
'leader of saboteurs ahead of illegal pursuit?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'pursuit?' could be 'hunt' (synonyms) and 'hunt' is present in the answer.
A single letter 's' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for shunt that I've seen before include "Car crash (slang)" , "Transfer rolling stock from track to track" , "Move wagons around" , "Divert into alternative course, like train" , "Rear end collision" .)