What metal dealer did, without energy to persevere (7,2)
I believe the answer is:
soldier on
'persevere' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'what metal dealer did without energy' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'metal' could be 'er' (Er is an example) and 'er' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for soldier on that I've seen before include "Persevere (colloq.)" , "Persist in spite of difficulties" , "keep going" , "Doggedly continue" , "Keep struggling" .)