One spiked long drinks in gold vessel (9)
I believe the answer is:
porcupine
'one spiked' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'long drinks in gold vessel' is the wordplay.
'long' becomes 'pine' (to pine for someone is to long for them).
'drinks in' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters are drank in).
'gold' becomes 'or' ('or' is the heraldic name for gold).
'vessel' becomes 'cup' (cup is a type of vessel).
'or'+'cup'='orcup'
'pine' placed around 'orcup' is 'PORCUPINE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for porcupine that I've seen before include "Recoup pin from its bristles" , "prickly type" , "Rodent covered in protective spines" , "Rodent with sharp bristles" , "Rodent with sharp black-and-white spikes" .)
