Stop a cadet being boring (5)
I believe the answer is:
banal
'boring' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'stop a cadet' is the wordplay.
'stop' becomes 'ban' (I've seen this in other clues).
'a cadet' becomes 'al' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'ban'+'al'='BANAL'
'being' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for banal that I've seen before include "Uninteresting, commonplace" , "Old hat" , "Pedestrian" , "boringly dull" , "Uninspiring" .)