Serenading soldier deserted, got lost, and was captured (8)
I believe the answer is:
ensnared
'captured' is the definition.
(ensnaring is a kind of capturing)
'serenading soldier deserted got lost and' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'soldier' could be 're' (Royal Engineer) and 're' is present in the answer.
'deserted' could be 'd' and 'd' is found in the answer.
'and' could be 'n' (common abbreviation for 'and') and 'n' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'was' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ensnared that I've seen before include "Caught in a trap" , "Trapped" .)