They feel, as before, the girl has got caught up in (8)
I believe the answer is:
antennae
'they feel' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'before the girl has got caught up in' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'before' could be 'ante' (I've seen this before) and 'ante' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
'as' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for antennae that I've seen before include "Feelers or aerials" , "They sense" , "They receive radio signals" , "Insect's feelers" , "Sensitive parts of insects" .)