Took steps to secure ends of electric cable in apartment (5)
I believe the answer is:
paced
'took steps' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'to secure ends of electric cable in apartment' is the wordplay.
'to secure' indicates putting letters inside.
'ends of' indicates one should take the final letters (I've seen 'ending' mean this).
'in apartment' becomes 'pad' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
The last letters of 'electric cable' are 'ce'.
'ce' going into 'pad' is 'PACED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for paced that I've seen before include "Walked about in a preoccupied or frustrated way" , "assist an athlete" , "Made anxious moves" , "Steadily walked" , "set the tempo" .)