Tale ultimately penned by Nordic boy just starting primary school? (5)
I believe the answer is:
seven
'tale' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't see how one could define the other.
'ultimately penned by nordic boy just starting primary school?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'boy' could be 'even' and 'even' is found in the answer.
'school?' could be 's' and 's' is located in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for seven that I've seen before include "Film" , "Number of Wonders of the World" , "So many ages of man (AYLI)" , "- Against Thebes (Aeschylus)" , "Number of seas sailed?" .)