Mickey's family back in time to lay waste? (8)
I believe the answer is:
decimate
'lay waste?' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'mickey's family back in time' is the wordplay.
'mickey's family' becomes 'mice' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'back' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'time' becomes 'date' (date is a kind of time).
'mice' written backwards gives 'ecim'.
'ecim' going into 'date' is 'DECIMATE'.
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for decimate that I've seen before include "Kill one in ten (as Romans did as punishment for mutiny)" , "severely cut" , "Wipe out a large number" , "Reduce greatly (by 10%?) in number" , "By killing" .)