Make the spruce sprucer? (5)
I believe the answer is:
prune
'make' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to change as well as being verbs in their base form.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
I cannot understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for prune that I've seen before include "Dull person" , "Cut back the dried plum" , "A fruit; to cut back" , "Shrivelled fruit" , "Trim (tree); dried plum" .)