Cause shams to go to pieces? (5)
I believe the answer is:
smash
'cause' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'shams to go to pieces?' is the wordplay.
'to go to pieces?' indicates an anagram (I've seen 'going to pieces' mean this (going to pieces can mean breaking down)).
'shams' anagrammed gives 'SMASH'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for smash that I've seen before include "Hard tennis shot" , "defeat" , "something very popular" , "Overhead tennis shot" , "tremendous success!" .)