Crossword Genius

Copper in vain tortured South American native (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

vicuna

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'south american native' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot understand how they can define each other.

'copper in vain tortured' is the wordplay.
'copper' becomes 'cu' (chemical symbol).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'tortured' indicates an anagram.
'vain' with letters rearranged gives 'vina'.
'cu' placed inside 'vina' is 'VICUNA'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for vicuna that I've seen before include "fine wool cloth" , "Small wildl cud-chewing Andean animal with soft wool" , "Wild relative of llama" , "woollen fabric" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent and The Telegraph.
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