Cuddly companion engineered dry debate (5,4)
I believe the answer is:
teddy bear
'cuddly companion' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't see how one could define the other.
'engineered dry debate' is the wordplay.
'engineered' indicates an anagram (I've seen this in other clues).
'dry'+'debate'='drydebate'
'drydebate' is an anagram of 'TEDDY BEAR'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for teddy bear that I've seen before include "Stuffed toy" , "Fetishistic toy" , "Cuddly toy, named after President Roosevelt" , "Cuddly toy named after a US president" , "Child's toy, musically in picnic" .)