Home fit for a hermit? Squire’s gutted as hell (8)
I believe the answer is:
seashell
'home fit for a hermit?' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'squire's gutted as hell' is the wordplay.
'gutted' means to remove the middle letters (to gut something is to remove its insides).
'squire' with its centre removed is 'se'.
'se'+'as'+'hell'='SEASHELL'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for seashell that I've seen before include "Case of mollusc" , "Empty covering of marine mollusc" , "scallop?" , "Hard remains of marine mollusc" , "home by the coast, perhaps" .)