Crossword Genius

Tactical maneuvers initiated by half-dead marshals (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

deploys

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'tactical maneuvers' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to competing as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?

'initiated by half-dead marshals' is the wordplay.
'initiated by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (some letters go at the start of others).
'half' indicates taking half.
'marshals' becomes 'ploys' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'dead' with half the letters taken is 'de'.
'de'+'ploys' is 'DEPLOYS'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for deploys that I've seen before include "Distributes strategically" , "Spreads out in position ready for battle" , "Moves into position for military action" .)

I've seen this clue in The Hindu.
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