Whence cards are played in an uncontrolled way (3-2-4)
I believe the answer is:
out-of-hand
'played in an uncontrolled way' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'whence cards' is the wordplay.
'whence' becomes 'outof' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'cards' becomes 'hand' (I've seen this in other clues).
'outof'+'hand'='OUT-OF-HAND'
'are' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for out-of-hand that I've seen is " Beyond control".)