Quail as female of the species confronts monarch (5)
I believe the answer is:
cower
'quail' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'female of the species confronts monarch' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'female' could be 'cow' (I've seen this before) and 'cow' is present in the answer.
'monarch' could be 'er' (abbreviation for Elizabeth Regina, British Queen) and 'er' is found within the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'as' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cower that I've seen before include "Bend in fear" , "Quail" , "Crouch in fear" , "Cringe, grovel" , "Cringe, crouch" .)