Putting wild cattle on a ship is lacking sense (8)
I believe the answer is:
tactless
'putting wild cattle on a ship is lacking sense' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'wild cattle on a ship is lacking sense' is the wordplay.
'wild' is an anagram indicator.
'on' means one lot of letters go next to another (in a down clue, letters appear on others).
'a ship' becomes 'SS' (prefix in ship names eg SS Great Britain).
'is lacking' means to remove the last letter (the word is incomplete or lacking).
'sense' becomes 's' (this could be a standard abbreviation of which I'm unaware).
'ss' with its last letter removed is 's'.
'cattle' with letters rearranged gives 'tactle'.
'tactle'+'s'+'s'='TACTLESS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tactless that I've seen before include "Indiscreet" , "Lacking sensitivity in dealing with others" , "Lacking consideration" , "Let's cast away, lacking sensitivity" , "Showing no sensitivity to others" .)