Timid troops began to rally? (8)
I believe the answer is:
reserved
'timid' is the definition.
(timid means reserved or shy)
'troops began to rally?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'troops' could be 're' (Royal Engineers, army regiment) and 're' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'served' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for reserved that I've seen before include "Booked - reticent" , "Bashful" , "Set aside; reticent" , "Reticent; put by" , "Shy - set aside" .)