Passed round edible tubers wrong way up and caused alarm (8)
I believe the answer is:
dismayed
'caused alarm' is the definition.
(to dismay is to cause alarm or upset)
'passed round edible tubers wrong way' is the wordplay.
'passed' becomes 'died' (pass can mean to die).
'round' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'edible tubers' becomes 'yams' (yams are eaten as food).
'wrong way' is a reversal indicator.
'yams' in reverse letter order is 'smay'.
'died' enclosing 'smay' is 'DISMAYED'.
'up and' is the link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dismayed that I've seen before include "Dispirited" , "Cast down" , "Downhearted" , "Daunted" , "Horrified" .)