Seventeen Seconds , one embraced by person helping with The Cure retrospective (4)
I believe the answer is:
pigs
'person helping with the cure retrospective' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'seventeen seconds one embraced' is the wordplay.
'seventeen seconds' becomes 'pgs' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'one' becomes 'i' (Roman numeral).
'embraced' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters are embraced).
'pgs' placed around 'i' is 'PIGS'.
'by' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pigs that I've seen before include "Swine" , "earthenware crocks" , "Farm animals" , "Boars and sows" .)