Pickle student digs in dining room for men? (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
mess hall
'pickle student digs' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot see how they can define each other.
'dining room for men?' is the wordplay.
'dining room' becomes 'mess' (mess is a kind of dining room).
'for men?' becomes 'hall' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'mess'+'hall'='MESS HALL'
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for mess hall that I've seen is " where soldiers eat".)