Is in an ermine coat at times (5)
I believe the answer is:
stoat
'coat at times' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both animals as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'is in an ermine' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'an' could be 'a' and 'a' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'stot' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for stoat that I've seen before include "Member of the weasel family" , "Weasel, ermine" , "Ermine in summertime?" , "furry animal" , "Eating rabbit, he" .)