They direct fourth and fifth-class performers to make cut in intro (12)
I believe the answer is:
instructions
'they' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are plural nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'direct fourth and fifth-class performers to make cut in intro' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'and' could be 'n' (common abbreviation for 'and') and 'n' is present in the answer.
an anagram of 'cut' is 'uct' which is present in the answer.
an anagram of 'intro' is 'trion' which is within the left over letters.
'fifth-class' could be 's' (5th letter of 'class') and 's' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'is' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for instructions that I've seen before include "Directions; commands" , "Directions, orders" .)