Normal assault course conducted in absence of escort (2,5)
I believe the answer is:
as usual
'normal assault course conducted in absence of escort' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'normal assault course conducted in absence of escort' is the wordplay.
'normal' becomes 'usual' (I've seen this before).
'assault course conducted in absence of' becomes 'as' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'escort' says to put letters next to each other.
'usual' after 'as' is 'AS USUAL'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for as usual that I've seen before include "In line with practice" , "In the customary way" , "'In the normal manner (2,5)'" , "'In the normal way (2,5)'" , "Typically" .)