Knife that stabs left cuts in pedant (8)
I believe the answer is:
stickler
'pedant' is the definition.
(a pedant is a stickler for detail)
'knife that stabs left cuts' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'left' could be 'l' (common abbreviation) and 'l' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'sticker' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for stickler that I've seen before include "Disciplinarian, martinet" , "Person who insists as on protocol" , "One's less than flexible" , "One who is fussy" , "Someone fastidious" .)