Type of soup, bat, a help prepared (8)
I believe the answer is:
alphabet
'type of soup' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'bat a help prepared' is the wordplay.
'prepared' indicates anagramming the letters.
'bat'+'a'+'help'='batahelp'
'batahelp' anagrammed gives 'ALPHABET'.
(Other definitions for alphabet that I've seen before include "lots of characters" , "Letters, symbols used in a writing system" , "Pale bath (anag.)" , "First elements (of language)" , "Fundamental language components" .)