Stone initially set in a jewel by a woman (9)
I believe the answer is:
esmeralda
'a woman' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'stone initially set in a jewel by' is the wordplay.
'initially' suggests taking the first letters.
'set in' is an insertion indicator.
'jewel' becomes 'emerald' (emerald is a kind of jewel).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
The initial letter of 'stone' is 's'.
'a' after 'emerald' is 'emeralda'.
's' going inside 'emeralda' is 'ESMERALDA'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for esmeralda that I've seen before include "Cuban city" , "Hugo's heroine" , "Heroine of The Hunchback of Notre Dame" , "Victor's character" , "woman, kept in a tower" .)