Gutless Swiss caught by sword remains petrified? (6)
I believe the answer is:
fossil
'petrified?' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'gutless swiss caught by sword' is the wordplay.
'gutless' suggests removing the centre.
'caught by' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'sword' becomes 'foil' (foil is a kind of sword).
'swiss' with its middle taken out is 'ss'.
'ss' going inside 'foil' is 'FOSSIL'.
'remains' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. It may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for fossil that I've seen before include "I floss (anag.)" , "Preserved trace of an ancient plant or animal" , "Antiquated person" , "One petrified" , "This fuel is natural, extracted from the ground" .)