One hears the conductor is caricatured (5)
I believe the answer is:
guyed
'caricatured' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with communicating as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'one hears the conductor' is the wordplay.
'one hears' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue (I've seen 'hearing' mean this).
'the conductor' becomes 'guide' (I've seen this before).
'guide' is a homophone of 'GUYED'.
'is' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for guyed that I've seen before include "Made fun of - kept in position by ropes" , "sent up" , "Secured with rope" .)