Signs of hesitation interrupting magistrates, the bounders (7)
I believe the answer is:
jumpers
'bounders' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'signs of hesitation interrupting magistrates' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'hesitation' could be 'um' (um is said in hesitation) and 'um' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for jumpers that I've seen before include "suitable for spring?" , "They warm you up" , "get you going when powerless (in > play)" , "Garments" .)