Liberal, keeping working with copper, shows a bit of pride (4,3)
I believe the answer is:
lion cub
'a bit of pride' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how they can define each other.
'liberal keeping working with copper' is the wordplay.
'liberal' becomes 'lib' ().
'keeping' indicates putting letters inside (some letters kept inside).
'working' becomes 'on' (on can mean working or activated).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'copper' becomes 'cu' (Cu is the chemical symbol for copper).
'on'+'cu'='oncu'
'lib' enclosing 'oncu' is 'LION-CUB'.
'shows' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lion cub that I've seen before include "Young mauler" , "Elsa's offspring possibly (Born Free)" , "Creature" , "beastly prince?" , "Young pride member" .)