Lots following letter dictated: those in hot water? (3,4)
I believe the answer is:
tea bags
'those in hot water?' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'lots following letter dictated' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'lots' could be 'bags' (bags of means lots) and 'bags' is present in the answer.
'letter' could be 't' and 't' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ea' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tea bags that I've seen before include "those in hot water?" , "They hold leaves for infusions" .)