Sustained attack by clerical assistant for auditor? (9)
I believe the answer is:
cannonade
'sustained attack' is the definition.
'cannonade' can be an answer for 'attack' (cannonade is a kind of attack). I am not certain of the 'sustained' bit.
'clerical assistant for auditor?' is the wordplay.
'clerical' becomes 'cannon' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'assistant' becomes 'aide' (aide is a kind of assistant).
'for auditor?' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue (I've seen 'for auditors' mean this (auditor can mean someone listening)).
'aide' is a homophone of 'ade'.
'cannon'+'ade'='CANNONADE'
'by' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cannonade that I've seen before include "attack" , "Barrage" , "Period of continuous heavy gunfire" .)