Wide boys or saints embracing a misguided VIP (5)
I believe the answer is:
spivs
'wide boys' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'saints embracing a misguided vip' is the wordplay.
'saints' becomes 'ss' (an abbreviation for saint written twice).
'embracing' is an insertion indicator.
'a misguided' is an anagram indicator (I've seen this in other clues).
'vip' with letters rearranged gives 'piv'.
'ss' going around 'piv' is 'SPIVS'.
'or' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for spivs that I've seen is " WWII black marketeers".)