Remains after a fiery departure (5)
I believe the answer is:
ashes
'remains' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'after a fiery departure' is the wordplay.
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'fiery departure' becomes 'shes' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'a' next to 'shes' is 'ASHES'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ashes that I've seen before include "Eng/Aus test series" , "Cinders - which were once kept in the 3 20 at 18" , "sporting trophy" , "sports contest" , "Test cricket series" .)