Start to approach short blokes with stick (12)
I believe the answer is:
commencement
'start' is the definition.
(I know that start can be written as commencement)
'approach short blokes with stick' is the wordplay.
'approach short' becomes 'com' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'blokes' becomes 'men' (I've seen this in another clue).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'stick' becomes 'cement' (to cement something is to stick or attach it).
'com'+'men'+'cement'='COMMENCEMENT'
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for commencement that I've seen before include "Origin" , "Beginning" , "Start" .)