Observe 550 kings pruning 1000 little trees (9)
I believe the answer is:
seedlings
'trees' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both plants as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'observe 550 kings pruning 1000 little' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'observe' could be 'see' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'see' is found within the answer.
'1000' could be 'g' (G can mean a grand - 1000 pounds, dollars etc) and 'g' is located in the answer.
'little' could be 'l' (abbreviation for little) and 'l' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'dins' 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?
(Another definition for seedlings that I've seen is " Little plants".)