The beast upsets tots around the day centre (5)
I believe the answer is:
stoat
'the beast' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both animals as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'upsets tots around the day centre' is the wordplay.
'upsets' says the letters should be written backwards.
'around' indicates putting letters inside.
'centre' says to take the centre.
The central letter of 'day' is 'a'.
'tots' placed around 'a' is 'taots'.
'taots' written backwards gives 'STOAT'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for stoat that I've seen before include "Member of the weasel family" , "Weasel, ermine" , "Source of ermine" , "Small carnivore" , "Provider of ermine" .)