Guarding treasures, they distribute no gems (6)

I believe the answer is:

gnomes

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'guarding treasures they' is the definition.
The definition suggests an adverb but the answer is not.

'distribute no gems' is the wordplay.
'distribute' is an anagram indicator (I've seen this in other clues).
'no'+'gems'='nogems'
'nogems' is an anagram of 'GNOMES'.

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(Other definitions for gnomes that I've seen before include "Ornamental garden figures" , "Garden dwarfs from Zurich?" , "Fairytale dwarfs as garden ornaments" , "Influential dwarfs from Zurich?" , "Snog me (anag)" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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