Male in great metropolis accommodates writer following fire in research centre (6,6,9)
I believe the answer is:
atomic energy authority
'fire in research centre' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'male in great metropolis accommodates writer' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'male' could be 'tom' (tom can mean a male cat) and 'tom' is located in the answer.
'great' could be 'ai' (resembles A1, old-fashioned term meaning very good) and 'ai' is found in the remaining letters.
'writer' could be 'author' (synonyms) and 'author' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'following' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?