Encountered aluminium as example of this? (5)
I believe the answer is:
metal
'example of this?' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'encountered aluminium' is the wordplay.
'encountered' becomes 'met' ('meet' can be a synonym of 'encounter').
'aluminium' becomes 'al' (Al is the chemical symbol for aluminium).
'met'+'al'='METAL'
'as' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for metal that I've seen before include "Broken stone used in road-making" , "Solid material, a good conductor of heat and electricity" , "Tungsten, for example" , "Eg, iron, lead" , "Aluminium or copper for instance" .)