Did they stray from the orphanage? (5)
I believe the answer is:
waifs
'did they' is the definition.
The definition and answer are not the same part of speech.
'stray from the orphanage?' is the wordplay.
'stray' becomes 'waif' (I've seen this in another clue).
'from' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'the orphanage?' becomes 's' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'waif'+'s'='WAIFS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for waifs that I've seen before include "Strays" , "Forsaken children" .)