Suggestions of strikes about direction (5)
I believe the answer is:
hints
'suggestions' is the definition.
(hint is a kind of suggestion)
'strikes about direction' is the wordplay.
'strikes' becomes 'hits' ('hit' can be a synonym of 'strike').
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'direction' becomes 'n' (N is an example**).
'hits' enclosing 'n' is 'HINTS'.
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for hints that I've seen before include "Tips" , "Slight indications" , "Suggestions" .)