Ant deserts pachyderm in shade ring (9)
I believe the answer is:
telephone
'ant deserts pachyderm' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how one could define the other.
'in shade ring' is the wordplay.
'in shade' becomes 'tele' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'ring' becomes 'phone' (synonyms).
'tele'+'phone'='TELEPHONE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for telephone that I've seen before include "Transmitter of spoken words" , "Communication device" , "Electronic sound equipment" , "Communications device" , "Worldwide system of communication" .)