Thrown stiletto catches Penny — one up for trial? (4,5)
I believe the answer is:
test pilot
'one up for trial?' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't see how they can define each other.
'thrown stiletto catches penny' is the wordplay.
'thrown' indicates anagramming the letters.
'catches' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'penny' becomes 'p' (short for pence).
'stiletto' is an anagram of 'testilot'.
'testilot' enclosing 'p' is 'TEST-PILOT'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for test pilot that I've seen before include "Highly dangerous job" , "one occupying 21 [COCKPIT]" , "Alan Shepard once?" , "high flier" , "highflying expert" .)