Both ends of laces threaded by feeling holes (5)
I believe the answer is:
lairs
'feeling holes' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are plural nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.
'both ends of laces threaded by' is the wordplay.
'both ends of' suggests removing the centre (only the letters at each end of the word).
'laces' becomes 'ravels' (raveling is a kind of lacing).
'threaded' becomes 'lai' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'ravels' with its centre taken out is 'rs'.
'rs' after 'lai' is 'LAIRS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lairs that I've seen before include "Resting places of wild animals" , "retreats" , "forms etc" , "Habitations of wild animals" , "Scottish landowners" .)