Soothe drudge misplacing laptop (5)
I believe the answer is:
salve
'soothe' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'drudge misplacing laptop' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'laptop' could be 'l' (top of the word 'lap') and 'l' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'save' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for salve that I've seen before include "Healing ointment" , "One rubbed on skin" , "Soothing cream" , "consolation" , "Ointment for wounds" .)