One of a pair taken in hand for rowing (5)
I believe the answer is:
scull
'rowing' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot understand how one could define the other.
'one of a pair taken in hand' is the wordplay.
'one of a pair' becomes 'scul' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'taken in' means one lot of letters goes inside another (some letters have taken in others).
'hand' becomes 'L' (abbreviation for left, as in the left-hand side).
'scul' enclosing 'l' is 'SCULL'.
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for scull that I've seen before include "Small oar" , "racing shell" , "Row with two oars" , "Light rowing boat" , "Blade" .)