Putting on a sham under threat of death (2,8)
I believe the answer is:
at gunpoint
'a sham under threat of death' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'putting on' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'on' could be 'at' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'at' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'gunpoint' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for at gunpoint that I've seen is " Under threat of shooting".)