Whatever it takes (5)
I believe the answer is:
means
'takes' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to thinking as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'whatever it' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'it' could be 'e' ('e' can mean 'electronic' which is similar to 'IT') and 'e' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'mans' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for means that I've seen before include "Averages" , "way" , "sufficient funds" , "Medium used to achieve a result" , "has significance" .)