A number of people? (17)
I believe the answer is:
anaesthesiologist
'of people?' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'a number' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'a' could be 'an' and 'an' is located in the answer.
'number' could be 'l' (L is an example) and 'l' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for anaesthesiologist that I've seen is " Theatre performer".)