Free, but worried by old ruse, we hear (9)
I believe the answer is:
extricate
'free' is the definition.
(extricating is a kind of freeing)
'worried by old ruse we hear' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'worried' could be 'ate' (something worrying may eat someone up) and 'ate' is located in the answer.
'by' could be 'x' (multiplication sign) and 'x' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'but' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for extricate that I've seen before include "Disentangle, release from difficulty" , "Disentangle, set free" , "Free (something) from difficulty" , "Free from complicated situation" , "Free (someone) from difficulty" .)