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 understand how this works, but
'male' could be 'tom' (tom can mean a male cat) and 'tom' is present in the answer.
'great' could be 'ai' (resembles A1, old-fashioned term meaning very good) and 'ai' is located in the leftover letters.
'writer' could be 'author' (synonyms) and 'author' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'following' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?