Links grass to endless water shortage (5)
I believe the answer is:
rough
'links grass' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'endless water shortage' is the wordplay.
'endless' says to take the centre.
'water shortage' becomes 'drought' (I've seen this before).
The central letters of 'drought' are 'ROUGH'.
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rough that I've seen before include "Not level or smooth, like part of golf course" , "Sketchy" , "Boisterous - thug" , "Very choppy" , "grating > below par" .)