Look over playground and church (5)
I believe the answer is:
recce
'look' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'playground and church' is the wordplay.
'playground' becomes 'rec' (short for recreation ground).
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'church' becomes 'ce' (Church of England).
'rec'+'ce'='RECCE'
'over' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for recce that I've seen before include "look round" , "Military survey" , "Inspection" , "Scout" , "Reconnaissance" .)