Employed as trainee, secretary sent back pennies — living cost frozen? (11)
I believe the answer is:
apprenticed
'employed as trainee' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'secretary sent back pennies living cost frozen?' is the wordplay.
'secretary' becomes 'PA' (abbreviation for personal assistant).
'sent back' is a reversal indicator.
'pennies' becomes 'p' (abbreviation for pence).
'living cost' becomes 'rent' (rent is a kind of cost. I am not sure about the 'living' bit.).
'frozen?' becomes 'iced' (I've seen this before).
'pa' written backwards gives 'ap'.
'ap'+'p'+'rent'+'iced'='APPRENTICED'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for apprenticed that I've seen is " Employed to learn a trade".)