I struggled, choked by climber? (5)
I believe the answer is:
ivied
'choked by climber?' is the definition.
The answer and definition are not the same part of speech. However, adjectives and past participle verbs occasionally mean the same thing.
'i struggled' is the wordplay.
'struggled' becomes 'vied' (I've seen this in other clues).
'i'+'vied'='IVIED'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ivied that I've seen before include "covered with 8 [EVERGREEN]" , "climber on outside of building" , "Covered with climbing plant" , "with covering of creeper" , "Covered in Hedera helix" .)