NCO cutting e.g. soldier's woollen cloth (5)
I believe the answer is:
serge
'cloth' is the definition.
(I know that serge is a type of cloth)
'nco cutting e g soldier's woollen' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'e' is within the answer.
'g' is within the answer.
'soldier' could be 're' (Royal Engineer) and 're' is found within the leftover letters.
A single letter 's' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for serge that I've seen before include "Material to suit" , "Durable fabric" , "A twill fabric" , "Frenchman" , "Stuff" .)