A female's a trophy, in a sense (5)
I believe the answer is:
ashes
'trophy in a sense' is the definition.
'ashes' can be an answer for 'trophy' (I've seen this before). I am unsure of the 'in a sense' bit.
'a female's a' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is present in the answer.
'female's' could be 'shes' ('she' refers to a woman) and 'shes' 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 ashes that I've seen before include "Remains of anything burnt" , "Eng./Aus. cricket trophy" , "Cricket honour in the fire" , "Former Wimbledon champion's" , "''... to ..., dust to dust'' (burial service)" .)