Negotiate access by retired Russian (8)
I believe the answer is:
navigate
'negotiate' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are verbs in their base form, I can't understand how one could define the other.
'access by retired russian' is the wordplay.
'access' becomes 'gate' (I've seen this in other clues).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'retired' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'russian' becomes 'Ivan' (common Russian name).
'ivan' reversed gives 'navi'.
'gate' after 'navi' is 'NAVIGATE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for navigate that I've seen before include "Pilot, plot path" , "Guide ship or aircraft" , "Steer, ship or plane" , "Plan ship's course" , "Drive" .)