Quietly cut down by soldiers, having got ready (8)
I believe the answer is:
prepared
'got ready' is the definition.
('prepare' can be a synonym of 'get ready')
'quietly cut down by soldiers' is the wordplay.
'quietly' becomes 'p' (p for piano and quiet).
'cut down' becomes 'pared' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'soldiers' becomes 're' (Royal Engineers).
'pared' put after 're' is 'repared'.
'p'+'repared'='PREPARED'
'having' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for prepared that I've seen before include "All set" , "Waiting" , "Ready for action" , "Made or got ready" , "edited" .)