Castigate hooligan about cinders (4,3)
I believe the answer is:
lash out
'castigate' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are verbs in their base form.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'hooligan about cinders' is the wordplay.
'hooligan' becomes 'lout' (both can mean an aggressive person).
'about' indicates putting letters inside.
'cinders' becomes 'ash' (I've seen this before).
'lout' enclosing 'ash' is 'LASH OUT'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lash out that I've seen before include "Strike (or spend) wildly" , "Punch wildly" , "Become suddenly aggressive" , "React violently" , "Recklessly spend" .)