Crossword Genius

The Parisian, after opera, finds how a model may be (2,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

to scale

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'how a model may be' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'the parisian after opera' is the wordplay.
'the parisian' becomes 'le' (definite article in French).
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'opera' becomes 'tosca' (I've seen this before).
'le' after 'tosca' is 'TO SCALE'.

'finds' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for to scale that I've seen before include "produce with uniform reduction" , "In the same pro-portions as the original" , "properly modelled" , "Accurately represented" , "relatively accurate" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app