Give a speech to astonish the first few of them (5)
I believe the answer is:
toast
'give' is the definition.
(I know that give is a more specific form of the action the toast)
'a speech to astonish the first few of them' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'a' is found in the answer.
'to' is within the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found in the answer.
A single letter 's' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for toast that I've seen before include "Raise a glass to (someone)" , "A bit of a bloomer, possibly" , "Tribute (plus a clinking of glasses?)" , "It may be eaten (or drunk!)" , "'----- of the Town': one receiving the acclaim of one's peers" .)