Piano notes before special red carpet affairs (9)
I believe the answer is:
premieres
'red carpet affairs' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are plural nouns, I can't understand how one could define the other.
'piano notes before special' is the wordplay.
'piano' becomes 'p' (musical abbreviation).
'notes' becomes 'remi' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'before' becomes 'ere' (poetic term for 'before').
'special' becomes 'S' (common abbreviation as in Special Air Service).
'p'+'remi'+'ere'+'s'='PREMIERES'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for premieres that I've seen before include "First performances" , "First showings of new plays or films" .)