Start to row, taking man across popular river in Europe (5)
I believe the answer is:
rhine
'river in europe' is the definition.
'rhine' can be an answer for 'river' (Rhine River is an example). I am not certain of the 'in europe' bit.
'start to row taking man across popular' is the wordplay.
'start to' suggests taking the first letters.
'taking' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'man' becomes 'he' ().
'across' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'popular' becomes 'in'.
The first letter of 'row' is 'r'.
'he' enclosing 'in' is 'hine'.
'r'+'hine'='RHINE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rhine that I've seen before include "Great European river with Lorelei Rock" , "Bonn's river" , "water" , "Major European river" , "River rising in Alps, with mouth at Rotterdam" .)