Could be nutty or explosive inside (5)
I believe the answer is:
shell
'inside' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'could be nutty or explosive' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'explosive' could be 'he' (abbreviation for high explosive) and 'he' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for shell that I've seen before include "Crustacean's protection" , "cover" , "Mortar missile" , "Outside of an egg" , "Mollusc's protection" .)