Crossword Genius

Tough soldiers tight-lipped about start of invasion (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

resilient

'tough' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'soldiers tight-lipped about start of invasion' is the wordplay.
'soldiers' becomes 're' (Royal Engineers).
'tight-lipped' becomes 'silent'.
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'start of' says to take the initial letters.
The first letter of 'invasion' is 'i'.
'silent' enclosing 'i' is 'silient'.
're'+'silient'='RESILIENT'

(Other definitions for resilient that I've seen before include "Hardy" , "able to withstand disappointment" , "bouncing back" , "Bouncy" , "Rebounding from impact" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.