Relieved when our side is backed by veteran? (8)
I believe the answer is:
assuaged
'relieved' is the definition.
('assuage' can be a synonym of 'relieve')
'when our side is backed by veteran?' is the wordplay.
'when' becomes 'as' (eg 'when I walked' means 'as I walked').
'our side' becomes 'us' (our people or our side are us).
'is backed' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'by veteran?' becomes 'aged' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'us' backwards is 'su'.
'as'+'su'+'aged'='ASSUAGED'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for assuaged that I've seen before include "Allayed, alleviated" , "mollified" , "Slaked, satisfied" , "Softened" , "Mitigated or relieved" .)