Sidestep character in arena to buy drinks (3,6)
I believe the answer is:
get around
'sidestep' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with communicating as well as being verbs in their base form.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'character in arena to buy drinks' is the wordplay.
'character in' says to take the centre (I've seen 'characters in' mean this).
'arena' becomes 'stage'.
'to' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (I've seen this in other clues).
'buy' becomes 'get' (both can mean to purchase or obtain).
'drinks' becomes 'round' (I've seen this before).
The central letter of 'stage' is 'a'.
'a' after 'get' is 'geta'.
'geta'+'round'='GET AROUND'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for get around that I've seen before include "Circulate" , "Socialise a lot" , "Avoid" , "buy drinks for everyone" , "Travel" .)