Seafarer with apostolic brief that may help him weather the storm (9)
I believe the answer is:
tarpaulin
'weather the storm' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.
'seafarer with apostolic brief that may help him' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'seafarer' could be 'tar' (synonyms) and 'tar' is present in the answer.
'him' could be 'paul' and 'paul' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'in' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tarpaulin that I've seen before include "Strong waterproof sheet" , "Heavy waterproof canvas" , "It provides protection" , "protective headgear" , "protective cover" .)