Say the wrong thing to young lady on mountaintop (8)
I believe the answer is:
misspeak
'say' is the definition.
(I know that misspeak is a more specific form of the action say)
'lady on mountaintop' is the wordplay.
'lady' becomes 'miss' (I have seen 'Young lady' mean 'miss' so perhaps 'lady' could also mean 'miss').
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (in a down clue, letters appear on others).
'mountaintop' becomes 'peak' (I've seen this in another clue).
'miss'+'peak'='MISSPEAK'
'the wrong thing to young' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for misspeak that I've seen before include "say, the wrong way" , "Emulate Mrs Clinton" , "Express oneself badly" , "say, wrongly" .)