Felt like a doctor (6)
I believe the answer is:
probed
'felt' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with contact as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'a doctor' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'doctor' could be 'd' (eg in PhD, Doctor of Philosophy) and 'd' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'probe' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'like' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for probed that I've seen before include "Investigated closely as dentist does a tooth" , "Did research" , "Questioned or examined thoroughly and closely" , "Examined, dug into" , "Searched" .)