Soldiers tense in ruin finding bomb (6)
I believe the answer is:
mortar
'bomb' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'soldiers tense in ruin' is the wordplay.
'soldiers' becomes 'OR' (Other Ranks).
'tense' becomes 't' (abbreviation used in many dictionaries).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'ruin' becomes 'mar' (I've seen this before).
'or'+'t'='ort'
'ort' placed into 'mar' is 'MORTAR'.
'finding' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mortar that I've seen before include "Brick-joining material or short cannon" , "Small cannon or building material" , "may be set into wall" , "Brick bonder; weapon" , "Cement mix" .)