What's bottled up by soldier around commanding officer? (5)
I believe the answer is:
macon
'what's bottled up' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'soldier around commanding officer?' is the wordplay.
'soldier' becomes 'man' (man can mean a soldier).
'around' is an insertion indicator.
'commanding officer?' becomes 'co'.
'man' placed around 'co' is 'MACON'.
'by' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for macon that I've seen before include "Wandering (knight)" , "red" , "French wine region" , "French wine district" , "A heavy Burgundy" .)