Having expanded, did encircle the former (7)
I believe the answer is:
dilated
'having expanded did encircle' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'former' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'former' could be 'late' (late can mean former or previous) and 'late' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'did' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dilated that I've seen before include "like pupils in the dark" , "Add tile (anag)" , "Made more open/wide" , "Opened up" , "Distended" .)