Remove tear in strapping (5,3)
I believe the answer is:
strip out
'remove' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'tear in strapping' is the wordplay.
'tear' becomes 'rip' (rip is a kind of tear).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'strapping' becomes 'stout' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'rip' inserted inside 'stout' is 'STRIP OUT'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for strip out that I've seen before include "Take items from balance sheet" , "Remove (items) from a balance sheet" .)