Male variant of chromosome or female? (4)
I believe the answer is:
lady
'female?' is the definition.
(lady is a kind of female)
'male variant of chromosome' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'male' could be 'lad' (lad is a kind of male) and 'lad' is present in the answer.
'chromosome' could be 'y' (Y chromosome is an example) and 'y' is found within the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'or' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lady that I've seen before include "Noble" , "Peeress" , "See 19" , "Female title" , "Female peer" .)