King, say, besieging city given earl's protection (8)
I believe the answer is:
tutelage
'protection' is the definition.
(I know that tutelage is a type of protection)
'king say besieging city given earl's' is the wordplay.
'king' becomes 'tut' (King Tut, short for Tutankhamun).
'say' becomes 'eg' (both can mean for example).
'besieging' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'city' becomes 'LA' (Los Angeles).
'given earl' becomes 'e' (I am not sure about the 'given' bit.).
'eg' going around 'la' is 'elag'.
'tut'+'elag'+'e'='TUTELAGE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tutelage that I've seen before include "guidance" , "Training" , "Tuition" , "Office of tutor or guardian" , "Instruction by personal teacher" .)