Record pair of sweethearts to use as a weapon (4)
I believe the answer is:
epee
'a weapon' is the definition.
(epee is a kind of weapon)
'record pair of sweethearts to use' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'record' could be 'ep' (abbreviation for extended play record) and 'ep' is found in the answer.
'sweethearts' could be 'ee' (two E's - E is the 'heart' of 'swEet') and 'ee' is found within the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'as' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for epee that I've seen before include "Rapier" , "Fighting blade" , "Pointed weapon" , "piece of fencing" , "It may offer riposte" .)