Policeman tricks the French into welcoming a flying mammal from the east (9)
I believe the answer is:
constable
'policeman' is the definition.
(I know this)
'tricks the french into welcoming a flying mammal from the east' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'tricks' could be 'cons' (trick can mean to scam or con) and 'cons' is found in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
'a' is within the answer.
'from' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for constable that I've seen before include "Force member" , "in blue?" , "CARRY ON FILM" , "He painted" , "Law enforcer" .)