Young criminal describing time of his life? (7)
I believe the answer is:
boyhood
'time of his life?' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to time as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'young criminal' is the wordplay.
'young' becomes 'boy' (young boy).
'criminal' becomes 'hood' (hood is a kind of criminal).
'boy'+'hood'='BOYHOOD'
'describing' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for boyhood that I've seen before include "A man's youth" , "State of youth" .)