Puzzled as to why the umpire raised a finger? (7)
I believe the answer is:
stumped
'puzzled' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'to why the umpire raised a finger?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'umpire' could be 'ump' (synonyms) and 'ump' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'sted' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'as' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for stumped that I've seen before include "Baffled" , "You'd walk if this" , "Defeated by puzzle" , "Bewildered (on the way out?)" , "Dismissed" .)