This is a long shot - ants accompanying elephants leave in toto? (9)
I believe the answer is:
telephoto
'this is a long shot ants accompanying elephants leave in toto?' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'this is a long shot' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'long' could be 'l' and 'l' is located in the answer.
'shot' could be 'photo' (I've seen this before) and 'photo' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'tee' 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 telephoto that I've seen before include "Distant shooter" , "It helps paparazzi get closer" , "Magnifying lens in a camera" , "Kind of lens" , "Long type of camera lens" .)