Former volunteers retired in California, chasing a whiff of flowers? (9)
I believe the answer is:
botanical
'former' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are adjectives, I don't understand how one could define the other.
'volunteers retired in california chasing a whiff of flowers?' is the wordplay.
'volunteers' becomes 'TA' (abbreviation for Territorial Army).
'retired' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'california' becomes 'cal' (short for California).
'chasing' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (some letters chase after others).
'a whiff of flowers?' becomes 'bo' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'in' reversed gives 'ni'.
'ta'+'ni'+'cal'='tanical'
'tanical' after 'bo' is 'BOTANICAL'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for botanical that I've seen before include "Relating to the study of plants" , "Description of some gardens" , "(Gardens) of scientific interest" .)