Funny smell by soldiers beginning to offend us (8)
I believe the answer is:
humorous
'funny' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'smell by soldiers beginning to offend us' is the wordplay.
'smell' becomes 'hum' (something with a bad smell is 'humming').
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'soldiers' becomes 'OR' (Other Ranks).
'beginning to' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'offend' is 'o'.
'hum'+'or'+'o'+'us'='HUMOROUS'
(Other definitions for humorous that I've seen before include "Causing amusement" , "Comic" , "Risible" , "Comical or amusing" , "Droll, witty" .)