Pincer movement caught thief heading for shopping mall (8)
I believe the answer is:
precinct
'shopping mall' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot understand how they can define each other.
'pincer movement caught thief heading' is the wordplay.
'movement' indicates anagramming the letters (letters move around).
'heading' suggests taking the first letters (head could mean the top letter).
The first letters of 'caught thief' is 'ct'.
'pincer' with letters rearranged gives 'precin'.
'precin'+'ct'='PRECINCT'
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for precinct that I've seen before include "An enclosed area, say around cathedral" , "District of authority" , "Shopping centre" , "Town shopping area" , "Enclosed space around, eg, a cathedral" .)