Rodríguez's greeting returned a Hawaiian one (5)
I believe the answer is:
aloha
'hawaiian one' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how they can define each other.
'rodriguez's greeting returned a' is the wordplay.
'rodriguez's greeting' becomes 'hola' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'returned' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'hola' backwards is 'aloh'.
'aloh'+'a'='ALOHA'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for aloha that I've seen before include "Hi! in Honolulu" , "16 across in Hawaii" , "A Hawaiian welcome" , "Hawaiian greeting" , "A greeting in Hawaii" .)