Was a lush plant raised by newsroom chief? (5)
I believe the answer is:
toped
'was a lush plant raised' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'by newsroom chief?' is the wordplay.
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'newsroom' becomes 'ed' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'chief?' becomes 'top' (synonyms).
'ed' put after 'top' is 'TOPED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for toped that I've seen before include "Drunk" , "had lots of booze" , "Had lots of drinks" , "went on a binge?" , "fond of the booze?" .)