Sweeps airforce before the self-retired (7)
I believe the answer is:
raffles
'sweeps' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both acts as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'airforce before the self-retired' is the wordplay.
'airforce' becomes 'RAF' (Royal Air Force).
'before' says to put letters next to each other.
'retired' is a reversal indicator.
'self' written backwards gives 'fles'.
'raf'+'fles'='RAFFLES'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for raffles that I've seen before include "Hornung character" , "famous Singapore hotel" , "Money raisers" , "charity events" , "held to raise money" .)