A well preserved woman? (5)
I believe the answer is:
mummy
'preserved woman?' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'a well' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'well' could be 'my' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'my' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'mum' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mummy that I've seen before include "Preserved Egyptian" , "Embalmed body of Pharaoh" , "Mother, informally" , "Embalmed corpse" , "Embalmed Egyptian" .)