Can Revolutionary Guards start to guard hospital in darkness? (5)
I believe the answer is:
night
'darkness?' is the definition.
(night is a kind of darkness)
'can revolutionary guards start to guard hospital' is the wordplay.
'can' becomes 'tin' (synonyms).
'revolutionary' is a reversal indicator.
'guards' is an insertion indicator (inserted letters are guarded).
'start to' suggests taking the first letters.
The initial letters of 'guard hospital' is 'gh'.
'tin' reversed gives 'nit'.
'nit' enclosing 'gh' is 'NIGHT'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for night that I've seen before include "Dark period" , "For most, the time for sleep" , "'Red sky at . . . . ., shepherd's delight'" , "death" , "'The 2 8 of the dog in the _____'" .)