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' going inside 'tong' is 'THONG'.
'in' acts as a 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" .)