First of germs caught in hanky you and I lifted, gripping item (5,5)
I believe the answer is:
sugar tongs
'gripping item' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'first of germs caught in hanky you and i lifted' is the wordplay.
'first of germs' becomes 'g' (sst letter of 'germs').
'caught in' is an insertion indicator.
'hanky' becomes 'snotrag' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'you and i' becomes 'us' (the two of us).
'lifted' is a reversal indicator (going up in down clue).
'snotrag'+'us'='snotragus'
'g' inserted within 'snotragus' is 'sgnotragus'.
'sgnotragus' written backwards gives 'SUGAR TONGS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sugar tongs that I've seen before include "Cube grippers" , "Tea service accessory" , "Cube lifters" .)