Puzzle with tangled ropes (5)
I believe the answer is:
poser
'puzzle' is the definition.
(poser can mean a mystery or puzzle)
'tangled ropes' is the wordplay.
'tangled' is an anagram indicator.
'ropes' is an anagram of 'POSER'.
'with' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for poser that I've seen before include "Spore raises a difficult question" , "Tricky problem" , "Brain-teaser" , "What's difficult" , "Problem to be solved" .)