Orders chaps to eat palm fruit (8)
I believe the answer is:
mandates
'orders' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'chaps to eat palm fruit' is the wordplay.
'chaps' becomes 'mans' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'to eat' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'palm fruit' becomes 'date' (I've seen this in another clue).
'mans' placed around 'date' is 'MANDATES'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mandates that I've seen before include "Authorisations" , "instructions" , "Gives authority to a delegate" , "Authorizations to act on behalf of others" , "Commissions to act for others" .)