Source of protection potentially rickety and unstable (8,7)
I believe the answer is:
security blanket
'source of protection' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.
'potentially rickety and unstable' is the wordplay.
'potentially' is an anagram indicator (letters have the potential to spell a new word).
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'rickety' after 'unstable' is 'unstablerickety'.
'unstablerickety' with letters rearranged gives 'SECURITY BLANKET'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for security blanket that I've seen before include "It may help one sleep at night" , "Embargo on information" , "comforter for child" , "information blackout" , "comforting to the young?" .)