Rusty, like a retired doctor? (3,2,8)
I believe the answer is:
out of practice
'rusty' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'retired doctor?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'retired' could be 'out' (synonyms) and 'out' is found within the answer.
'doctor?' could be 'act' (doctor is a kind of act) and 'act' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'like a' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for out of practice that I've seen before include "Like a doctor dismissed" , "being rusty?" .)