Surrounded by maidens, surrounded by helping hands (4)
I believe the answer is:
amid
'surrounded by' is the definition.
(amid means among or surrounded by)
'maidens surrounded by helping hands' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'maidens' could be 'm' (cricket abbreviation) and 'm' is located in the answer.
'helping' could be 'aid' (synonyms) and 'aid' is located in the leftover letters.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for amid that I've seen before include "Surrounded by" , "Within" , "A dim sort of preposition" , "In the thick of" , "In the middle of" .)