Hunted deer has gone astray, Charlie's admitted (8)
I believe the answer is:
searched
'hunted' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are past participle verbs, I don't understand how one could define the other.
'deer has gone astray charlie's admitted' is the wordplay.
'gone astray' is an anagram indicator (I've seen this in other clues).
'charlie' becomes 'C' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'admitted' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters get admitted).
'deer'+'has'='deerhas'
'deerhas' is an anagram of 'searhed'.
'searhed' enclosing 'c' is 'SEARCHED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for searched that I've seen before include "Sought, looked through" , "Tried to locate" , "Sought to find" , "Sought, scoured" , "Spent time trying to find" .)