Old woman brought silver up for ritual (8)
I believe the answer is:
haggadah
'ritual' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'old woman brought silver up' is the wordplay.
'old woman' becomes 'hag' (hag is a kind of old woman).
'brought' becomes 'had' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'silver' becomes 'ag' (Ag is the chemical symbol for silver).
'up' shows that the letters should be reversed in order (in down clue: letters go upwards).
'had'+'ag'='hadag'
'hadag' backwards is 'gadah'.
'hag'+'gadah'='HAGGADAH'
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?