Goes around St Swithun retreat for hard cases (4)
I believe the answer is:
nuts
'swithun retreat for hard cases' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'goes around st' is the wordplay.
'goes' becomes 'nu' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'around' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'st' in reverse letter order is 'ts'.
'nu'+'ts'='NUTS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nuts that I've seen before include "'Here we go gathering . . . . In May'" , "Fruits; insane" , "Hard-shelled fruits or seeds" , "Bonkers" , "Edible seeds with hard shells" .)