What young gangster grows to? (9)
I believe the answer is:
adulthood
'what young' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'gangster grows to?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'gangster' could be 'hood' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'hood' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'adult' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for adulthood that I've seen before include "Supposedly mature years" , "Time for a majority" , "Grown state" , "Full maturity" .)