Material challenged in court — end of case (5)
I believe the answer is:
suede
'material challenged in' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both substances as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'court end of case' is the wordplay.
'court' becomes 'sue' (I've seen this in another clue).
'end of' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (I've seen 'ends of' mean this).
'case' becomes 'dative' (the dative case in grammar).
'dative' with its middle removed is 'de'.
'sue'+'de'='SUEDE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for suede that I've seen before include "Brushed leather" , "Leather with velvety nap used in shoes and clothes" , "Form of leather" , "Leather with flesh side rubbed to velvety nap" , "Fabric" .)