Shoot the breeze with blonde in attempt to manipulate (8)
I believe the answer is:
gaslight
'attempt to manipulate' is the definition.
(to gaslight is to make someone doubt their sanity)
'shoot the breeze with blonde' is the wordplay.
'shoot the breeze' becomes 'gas' (both can mean to chat or talk casually).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'blonde' becomes 'light' (I've seen this before).
'gas'+'light'='GASLIGHT'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for gaslight that I've seen before include "Old guide in dark" , "Sort of illumination" , "Old-fashioned illumination" , "source of illumination" , "Bergman film" .)