Destitute person very quietly pinching gold, before making about-turn (6)
I believe the answer is:
pauper
'destitute person' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'quietly pinching gold before making about-turn' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'quietly' could be 'p' (p for piano and quiet) and 'p' is located in the answer.
'gold' could be 'au' (Au is the chemical symbol for gold) and 'au' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'per' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'very' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pauper that I've seen before include "A very poor person, really broke" , "Indigent person" , "Indigent type" , "Extremely poor person" , "One with little money" .)