Sharp instrument has detective irritated (7)
I believe the answer is:
needled
'irritated' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'sharp instrument has detective' is the wordplay.
'sharp instrument' becomes 'needle' (I've seen this before).
'has' says to put letters next to each other.
'detective' becomes 'd' (this might be a standard abbreviation I've not previously seen).
'needle'+'d'='NEEDLED'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for needled that I've seen before include "Irritated (sl.)" , "Piqued" , "Annoyed - provoked" , "Provoked with sewing implement" , "got angry" .)