From a desert on the west coast of South America, a cat returned with a Mum (7)
I believe the answer is:
atacama
'from a desert on the west coast of south america' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'a cat returned with a mum' is the wordplay.
'returned' says the letters should be written backwards.
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'mum' becomes 'ma' (both can mean mother).
'cat' written backwards gives 'tac'.
'a'+'tac'+'a'+'ma'='ATACAMA'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for atacama that I've seen before include "lot of empty space" , "South American desert" , "Chilean desert" .)