A figure advanced at Bristol, for instance (4)
I believe the answer is:
avon
'a figure' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'advanced at bristol for instance' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'advanced' could be 'a' (abbreviation) and 'a' is found within the answer.
'at' could be 'on' (location) and 'on' is present in the answer.
A single letter 'v' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for avon that I've seen before include "English river name in multiple use" , "[WILTS] flower" , "Stratford's river" , "Name of several English rivers" , "River joining Bath with Bristol" .)