King surrounded by knaves and jokers (5)
I believe the answer is:
cards
'jokers' is the definition.
(jokers are playing cards)
'king surrounded by knaves' is the wordplay.
'king' becomes 'r' (r is abbreviation for rex).
'surrounded by' is an insertion indicator.
'knaves' becomes 'cads' (I've seen this before).
'r' inserted within 'cads' is 'CARDS'.
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for cards that I've seen before include "See 11" , "Small pieces of stiff paper" , "Christmas post" , "Combs, cleans (raw wool); game" , "They may be for playing or greeting" .)