Managed to get detectives sour (6)
I believe the answer is:
rancid
'sour' is the definition.
('rancid' can be a synonym of 'sour')
'managed to get detectives' is the wordplay.
'managed' becomes 'ran' (I've seen this before).
'to get' says to put letters next to each other.
'detectives' becomes 'cid'.
'ran'+'cid'='RANCID'
(Other definitions for rancid that I've seen before include "Foul-tasting" , "Unpleasantly stale" , "(Of fatty foods) stale" , "Stale, rank" , "Fetid" .)