A girl, with love, given a fling by a cowboy (5)
I believe the answer is:
lasso
'a fling by a cowboy' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'a girl with love' is the wordplay.
'a girl' becomes 'lass' (lass can informally mean a girl).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'love' becomes 'o' (love means zero in tennis).
'lass'+'o'='LASSO'
'given' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lasso that I've seen before include "Cowboy's rope with sliding noose" , "Rope with 20" , "Cowcatcher" , "Rope for a cowboy" , "Cattle-catching rope" .)