Playing outside circuit divisions (4)
I believe the answer is:
acts
'divisions' is the definition.
(I have seen 'Divisions of play ' mean 'acts' so perhaps 'divisions' could also mean 'acts')
'playing outside circuit' is the wordplay.
'playing' becomes 'as' (I've seen this in other clues).
'outside' indicates putting letters inside (some letters go outside others).
'circuit' becomes 'ct' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'as' going around 'ct' is 'ACTS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for acts that I've seen before include "the entertainment for a revue?" , "Things done" , "Decrees" , "5th NT book" , "exerts influence" .)