Hardy character recruits tenor for auditions (4)
I believe the answer is:
tess
'hardy character' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'recruits tenor for auditions' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'tenor' could be 't' and 't' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ess' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tess that I've seen before include "Hardy's pure woman" , "Thomas Hardy heroine" , "- of the d'Urbevilles (Hardy)" , "'Justice' finally done on her (Hardy)" , "Thomas Hardy girl" .)