Does hiding female surrender? (5)
I believe the answer is:
defer
'surrender?' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are verbs in their base form, I don't see how they can define each other.
'does hiding female' is the wordplay.
'does' becomes 'deer' (I've seen this in other clues).
'hiding' is an insertion indicator.
'female' becomes 'f' (common abbreviation).
'deer' placed around 'f' is 'DEFER'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for defer that I've seen before include "Yield to authority" , "Bow?" , "stall" , "Put off to another time" , "Allow precedence (to)" .)