Tries to hush a drunken sot (5)
I believe the answer is:
shots
'tries' is the definition.
(I know this)
'hush a drunken sot' is the wordplay.
'hush' becomes 'sh' (both are used to tell someone to be quiet).
'a drunken' indicates an anagram.
'sot' anagrammed gives 'ots'.
'sh'+'ots'='SHOTS'
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for shots that I've seen before include "See 2" , "Gunfire -- attempts" .)