Saves face, for example, of gangster's lover that is behind confusion in Alien (9)
I believe the answer is:
emollient
'saves face' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'example of gangster's lover that is behind confusion in alien' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is found within the answer.
'that is' could be 'ie' (short for Latin 'id est', 'that is') and 'ie' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for emollient that I've seen before include "Stuff that softens or soothes the skin" , "Soothing, calming" , "Balm" , "Softening the skin" , "Softening, soothing" .)