Pest starts messing with cockney's home (5)
I believe the answer is:
mouse
'pest' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how they can define each other.
'starts messing with cockney's home' is the wordplay.
'starts' suggests taking the first letters.
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'cockney's home' becomes ''ouse' ('house' - I've seen this before - said with the 'H' dropped - a cockney accent.).
The initial letter of 'messing' is 'm'.
'm'+'ouse'='MOUSE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mouse that I've seen before include "Wimp" , "Cursor control" , "underhand office worker?" , "computer equipment" , "Quiet type" .)