Band in hotel criminal society guards (5)
I believe the answer is:
thong
'band' is the definition.
(both can mean a strip of leather)
'hotel criminal society guards' is the wordplay.
'hotel' becomes 'h' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'criminal society' becomes 'tong' (I've seen this before. I am not sure about the 'criminal' bit.).
'guards' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters are guarded).
'h' placed within 'tong' is 'THONG'.
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for thong that I've seen before include "Pants" , "Strap - strip" , "Narrow strip of leather - beach garment" , "Narrow strip of hide used as lash" , "Strip of leather used for fastening" .)