Give gun to an idiot, then love a plated mammal (9)
I believe the answer is:
armadillo
'plated mammal' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'give gun to an idiot then love a' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'gun' could be 'arm' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'arm' is located in the answer.
'an' could be 'i' (Roman numeral for one) and 'i' is found within the answer.
'love' could be 'o' (love means zero in tennis) and 'o' is present in the answer.
'a' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for armadillo that I've seen before include "Insect-eating mammal" , "9ed [SHELLED] beast" , "armour-plated type" , "Bony-plated mammal" , "Dollar, ami for S American animal with bony plates" .)