A ticking off for the sailor (6)
I believe the answer is:
rating
'sailor' is the definition.
(British term for a naval enlisted man)
'a ticking off for the' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is found in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ring' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rating that I've seen before include "How many watched TV" , "Lowly naval rank" , "Ordinary seaman" , "Seaman; class" , "Sailor - deserving - reprimand" .)