Where statesmen can work to get coal out of a mine (7)
I believe the answer is:
capitol
'where statesmen can work to' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't see how they can define each other.
'coal out of a mine' is the wordplay.
'coal' becomes 'col' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'out of' means one lot of letters goes inside another (some letters on the outside of others).
'mine' becomes 'pit' (down the pit).
'a'+'pit'='apit'
'col' going around 'apit' is 'CAPITOL'.
'get' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for capitol that I've seen before include "government building" , "US Congress building" , "Home of the US Congress" , "US assembly building" , "where state legislature sits" .)