Thinking hard criminal certain not to reform (13)
I believe the answer is:
concentration
'thinking' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to thinking as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'hard criminal certain not to reform' is the wordplay.
'hard criminal' becomes 'con' (abbreviation for 'convict'. I am not sure about the 'hard' bit.).
'to reform' indicates an anagram (letters in a new form).
'certain'+'not'='certainnot'
'certainnot' with letters rearranged gives 'centration'.
'con'+'centration'='CONCENTRATION'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for concentration that I've seen before include "Absorption" , "A close gathering of things" , "Focussing" , "Mental effort" , "Deep thought" .)
