Connoisseur releases curses and the person handling it is reduced to tears (5)
I believe the answer is:
onion
'tears' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot see how one could define the other.
I cannot understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for onion that I've seen before include "Bulb used as a vegetable" , "Plant with edible bulb" , "reason for tears" , "Edible tear-jerker" , "it can bring tears" .)