Spirit of things indicated, putting last first (5)
I believe the answer is:
ethos
'spirit' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'of things indicated putting last first' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is found in the answer.
'last' could be 't' (I've seen this in other clues) and 't' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ehs' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ethos that I've seen before include "Characteristic spirit, of a culture say" , "Culture, way of life" , "Moral character" , "The distinctive spirit of a culture or an era" , "Distinctive spirit - character" .)