The skill of roguish old soldiers? (7)
I believe the answer is:
archery
'the skill' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot understand how they can define each other.
'roguish old soldiers?' is the wordplay.
'roguish' becomes 'arch' (I've seen this before).
'old soldiers?' becomes 'ery' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'arch'+'ery'='ARCHERY'
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for archery that I've seen before include "Bowmanship" , "Shooting with bows and arrows" , "The sport of bowmen" , "Bowman's sport" , "Arrow-shooting" .)