Manhandle head of gang in from entrance, perhaps (9)
I believe the answer is:
frogmarch
'manhandle' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with contact as well as being verbs in their base form.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'head of gang in from entrance perhaps' is the wordplay.
'head of' says to take the initial letters.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'entrance perhaps' becomes 'arch' (arch is a kind of entrance. I am not sure about the 'perhaps' bit.).
The first letter of 'gang' is 'g'.
'g' inserted into 'from' is 'frogm'.
'frogm'+'arch'='FROGMARCH'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for frogmarch that I've seen before include "Unceremonious arrest method" , "Force (person) to move forward" , "Force someone to move" , "Hustle person forward with his arms held fast" , "Forcibly remove someone" .)