Leather seat wrecked by sweet little child? (8)
I believe the answer is:
lambaste
'leather seat wrecked by sweet little child?' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'seat wrecked by sweet little child?' is the wordplay.
'wrecked' indicates anagramming the letters.
'by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'sweet little child?' becomes 'lamb' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'seat' is an anagram of 'aste'.
'aste' put after 'lamb' is 'LAMBASTE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lambaste that I've seen before include "Berate severely" , "Am ablest to administer a beating" , "Beat -- reprimand severely" , "carpet" , "Harshly criticise" .)