Sidestep sailor on Irish ship? That can be prevented (9)
I believe the answer is:
avoidable
'irish ship? that can be prevented' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are adjectives, I can't see how one could define the other.
'sidestep sailor' is the wordplay.
'sidestep' becomes 'avoid' (I've seen this in another clue).
'sailor' becomes 'able' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'avoid'+'able'='AVOIDABLE'
'on' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for avoidable that I've seen before include "Not necessary" , "Such a mistake, say, should not have happened" .)