Unnerves nearly defenceless slithery creature (11)
I believe the answer is:
rattlesnake
'slithery creature' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both animals as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'unnerves nearly defenceless' is the wordplay.
'unnerves' becomes 'rattles' (I've seen this in another clue).
'nearly' means to remove the last letter.
'defenceless' becomes 'naked' (I've seen this before).
'naked' with its final letter taken away is 'nake'.
'rattles'+'nake'='RATTLESNAKE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rattlesnake that I've seen before include "Potentially lethal reptile" , "Serpent with noisy tail" , "Poisonous creature" , "Creepy type" , "Poisonous (and noisy!) reptile" .)