One taking a short cut across the lawn? (5)
I believe the answer is:
mower
'lawn?' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't see how one could define the other.
'one taking a short cut across' is the wordplay.
'one taking a short' becomes 'er' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'cut' becomes 'mow' (as in mowing a lawn).
'across' means one lot of letters go next to another (across can mean on).
'er' put after 'mow' is 'MOWER'.
'the' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mower that I've seen before include "Grass-cutter" , "Gardening machine" , "Grass cutter" , "Lawn cutter" , "Patrick _; Rodney Blackstock in Emmerdale" .)