Gang in the thrall of ship’s cooler guards? (6)
I believe the answer is:
screws
'cooler guards?' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both acts as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'gang in the thrall of ship's' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'gang' could be 'crew' (synonyms) and 'crew' is present in the answer.
'ship' could be 'ss' (prefix in ship names eg SS Great Britain) and 'ss' is located in the leftover letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for screws that I've seen before include "Prison warders (sl.)" , "Fastening devices and prison guards, colloquially" , "... men guarding prisoners" , "Fastner with spiral thread" , "Prisoner guards, colloquially" .)