DNA brought back from European city by 500 aliens heading to galaxy (9)
I believe the answer is:
andromeda
'galaxy' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both plants as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'dna brought back from european city by 500 aliens heading to' is the wordplay.
'brought back' says the letters should be written backwards.
'from' says to put letters next to each other.
'european city' becomes 'Rome' (capital of Italy).
'by 500' becomes 'd' (Roman numeral for 500. I am not sure about the 'by' bit.).
'heading to' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'aliens' is 'a'.
'dna' back-to-front is 'and'.
'and'+'rome'+'d'+'a'='ANDROMEDA'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for andromeda that I've seen before include "Damsel in distress" , "Strangely, man adored the constellation" , "Constellation; daughter of Cassiopeia" , "Cassiopeia's daughter" , "plant" .)