Letters awaiting despatch to a colonial settlement (7)
I believe the answer is:
outpost
'settlement' is the definition.
(outpost is a kind of settlement)
'letters awaiting despatch to a colonial' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'letters' could be 'post' (I've seen this before) and 'post' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'out' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for outpost that I've seen before include "isolated stronghold" , "Outlying settlement" , "Remote military site" , "Distant office, settlement" , "A distant branch or settlement" .)