Male cuts clothes, an Italian import (8)
I believe the answer is:
parmesan
'italian import' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot see how one could define the other.
'male cuts clothes an' is the wordplay.
'male' becomes 'm' (common abbreviation).
'cuts' becomes 'pares' (paring is a kind of cutting).
'clothes' means one lot of letters goes inside another (some letters clothe or cover others).
'm' inserted into 'pares' is 'parmes'.
'parmes'+'an'='PARMESAN'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for parmesan that I've seen before include "Pam earns this cheese" , "Cheese for grating" , "Dry sharp-flavoured Italian cheese" , "Italian cheese, often grated" , "Hard dry cheese, often grated" .)