Retires around Des Moines with sons and daughters? (4)
I believe the answer is:
seed
'retires around des' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'moines with sons and daughters?' is the wordplay.
'moines' becomes 'ee' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'sons' becomes 's'.
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'daughters?' becomes 'd'.
'ee' put after 's' is 'see'.
'see'+'d'='SEED'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for seed that I've seen before include "one of the best players" , "Court favourite" , "A plant grows from it" , "It can develop into a plant" , "people decline to go to" .)