Old man cutting wire with skill (7)
I believe the answer is:
capable
'with skill' is the definition.
(capable can mean skilful)
'old man cutting wire' is the wordplay.
'old man' becomes 'pa' (both can mean father).
'cutting' means one lot of letters goes inside another (some letters cut their way into a word).
'wire' becomes 'cable' (synonyms).
'pa' going into 'cable' is 'CAPABLE'.
(Other definitions for capable that I've seen before include "Adept" , "Able, proficient" , "accomplished" , "qualified" , "Of a person, competent" .)