Shoppers with a card start to feel distressed, going round tense and broke (8,3,4)
I believe the answer is:
strapped for cash
'going round tense and broke' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'shoppers with a card start to feel distressed' is the wordplay.
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'start' indicates taking the first letters.
'distressed' indicates an anagram.
The first letters of 'to feel' is 'tf'.
'a'+'card'+'tf'='acardtf'
'shoppers' put after 'acardtf' is 'acardtfshoppers'.
'acardtfshoppers' with letters rearranged gives 'STRAPPED FOR CASH'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for strapped for cash that I've seen before include "not rolling in it" , "Hard up" , "Bust" , "needing money" , "as an S & M prostitute?" .)