1st XI took food before noon (1-4)
I believe the answer is:
a-team
'1st xi' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'took food before noon' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'took' could be 'ate' (eating is a kind of taking) and 'ate' is found within the answer.
'food' could be 'a' (A is an example) and 'a' is present in the answer.
'noon' could be 'm' and 'm' is located in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for a-team that I've seen before include "top people" , "Elite group of soldiers or workers" , "Elite troops" .)