Kids taken aback about a villain in Wind in the Willows ? (5)
I believe the answer is:
stoat
'willows ?' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'kids taken aback about a villain in wind in the' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'about' could be 'a' (abbreviation in Chambers) and 'a' is found within the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'sot' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for stoat that I've seen before include "Small carnivore" , "Ermine in summertime?" , "Provider of ermine" , "Source of ermine" , "Short-tail weasel" .)