Philosopher suggests a small set of questions is not applicable to first situation (7)
I believe the answer is:
aquinas
'philosopher' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'a small set of questions is not applicable to first situation' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'a' is within the answer.
'small' could be 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size) and 's' is present in the answer.
'first' could be 'i' (I in Roman numerals eg Elizabeth I) and 'i' is found in the answer.
'not' could be 'un' (prefix meaning 'not') and 'un' is present in the leftover letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'suggests' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for aquinas that I've seen before include "Saint Thomas --, Italian theologian" , "'dumb ox'" , "Old theologian" , "Saintly theologian" , "St. Thomas --, theologian" .)