Jazz piece (American) put up before exclusive item from The Nutcracker ? (9)
I believe the answer is:
sugarplum
'the nutcracker ?' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't see how one could define the other.
'jazz piece american put up before exclusive item' is the wordplay.
'jazz piece' becomes 'rag' (I've seen this in other clues).
'american' becomes 'US' (United States).
'put up' says the letters should be written backwards.
'before exclusive item' becomes 'plum' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'rag'+'us'='ragus'
'ragus' written backwards gives 'sugar'.
'sugar'+'plum'='SUGARPLUM'
'from' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sugarplum that I've seen before include "fairy dancing" , "Sweet thing" , "Dance of the ... Fairy" , "Sweet or sweetener" , "term of endearment" .)