Hearing you in a Carmen opera song puzzles maestro (9)
I believe the answer is:
araucaria
'puzzles maestro' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how one could define the other.
'hearing you in a carmen opera song' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'you' could be 'u' (homophones) and 'u' is present in the answer.
'a' is within the answer.
'song' could be 'aria' (piece of music in an opera) and 'aria' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'rac' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for araucaria that I've seen before include "Monkey puzzle tree (or Chile pine)" , "Monkey puzzle tree - Guardian cryptic crossword setter" , "Coniferous tree" , "puzzle for primates?" , "Evergreen" .)