Drunken three in Navy after Black Friars (8)
I believe the answer is:
brethren
'friars' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'drunken three in navy after black' is the wordplay.
'drunken' indicates anagramming the letters.
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'navy' becomes 'RN' (Royal Navy).
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'black' becomes 'b' (abbreviation as in pencil classifications).
'three' anagrammed gives 'ethre'.
'ethre' inserted into 'rn' is 'rethren'.
'rethren' put after 'b' is 'BRETHREN'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for brethren that I've seen before include "Biblical or other old brothers" , "Fellow Christians or members of a religious order" , "Members of Society" , "Archaic brothers" , "Old plural of brother" .)