Crossword Genius

Song about gold wagon puzzling South American native? (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

araucaria

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'puzzling south american native?' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.

'song about gold wagon' is the wordplay.
'song' becomes 'aria' (piece of music in an opera).
'about' indicates putting letters inside.
'gold' becomes 'Au' (Au is the chemical symbol for gold).
'wagon' becomes 'car'.
'au'+'car'='aucar'
'aria' enclosing 'aucar' is 'ARAUCARIA'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for araucaria that I've seen before include "Monkey puzzle tree - Guardian cryptic crossword setter" , "Coniferous tree" , "Monkey puzzle tree (or Chile pine)" , "Evergreen" , "puzzle for primates?" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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