Have a dash at starting an essay in mystic writing (5)
I believe the answer is:
runes
'have a dash at starting an essay in mystic writing' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'at starting an essay in mystic writing' is the wordplay.
'at' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'starting an essay in' becomes 's' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'mystic writing' becomes 'rune' (I've seen this in another clue).
's' put after 'rune' is 'RUNES'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for runes that I've seen before include "Small stones bearing symbols with magic significance" , "Mysterious letters" , "marks on old tablets" , "Old letters" , "old characters" .)