Paper tiger - the first with sons and daughters (6)
I believe the answer is:
tissue
'paper' is the definition.
(I know that tissue is a type of paper)
'tiger the first with sons and daughters' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
'first' could be 'i' (I in Roman numerals eg Elizabeth I) and 'i' is found within the answer.
'sons' could be 'ss' (s is abbreviation for son) and 'ss' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tissue that I've seen before include "full of lies?" , "cell block?" , "Skin or thin paper" , "A fabrication (of lies)" , "Fine soft paper" .)