Stodgy starters consumed, say (5)
I believe the answer is:
state
'say' is the definition.
(I know that say can be written as state)
'stodgy starters consumed' is the wordplay.
'stodgy starters' becomes 'st' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'consumed' becomes 'ate' (to eat is to consume food).
'st'+'ate'='STATE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for state that I've seen before include "eg Iowa" , "Assert; nation" , "Country; aver" , "A test (anag.)" , "Say; country" .)