To start straight to work can give a certain edge (5)
I believe the answer is:
strop
'edge' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'to start straight to work can give a certain' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'work' could be 'op' (common abbreviation for 'opus') and 'op' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for strop that I've seen before include "rage" , "Bad mood; sharpen" , "Bad temper - sharpen (a razor)" , "Piece of leather on which razor is sharpened" , "Prime cutthroat" .)