Financial authority opens unfinished building unit, previously sold by the yard (6)
I believe the answer is:
fabric
'previously sold by the yard' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'financial authority opens unfinished building unit' is the wordplay.
'opens' indicates taking the first letters.
'unfinished' means to remove the last letter.
'building unit' becomes 'brick' (I've seen this before).
The initial letters of 'financial authority' is 'fa'.
'brick' with its last letter removed is 'bric'.
'fa'+'bric'='FABRIC'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for fabric that I've seen before include "Silk or satin, say" , "Material; structure" , "Perhaps felt" , "'Cloth, textile (6)'" , "Material in general" .)