Barrie's cruel captain additionally said first person might use this to hold things together (4,3,3)
I believe the answer is:
hook and eye
'said first person might use this to hold things together' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'barrie's cruel captain additionally' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'captain' could be 'hook' (I've seen this before) and 'hook' is found within the answer.
'additionally' could be 'and' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'and' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'eye' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hook and eye that I've seen before include "Garment fastener" , "Fixing" .)